Clarence Thomas’s wealthy mega-donor friend Harlan Crow bought real estate from him in a deal the Supreme Court judge didn’t disclose, according to a new report.
A company belonging to Texan billionaire Crow, who has showered Thomas with lavish travel and odd but expensive gifts, bought a series of adjacent properties in Savannah, Georgia, including a single-story home and two lots, according to ProPublic.
It is the first known direct financial transaction between Thomas and Crow.
The company purchased the properties of co-owner Thomas, his mother and his late brother’s family for $133,363, according to an October 2014 tax document and deed obtained by the outlet.
Crow is a real estate mogul from Dallas” class=”blkBorder img-share” />
Crow called Thomas a dear friend and got to know him after he joined the Supreme Court. Crow is a real estate mogul from Dallas
A 2014 photo shows the vacant lots that Crow purchased from Thomas
Tax deed showing that Thomas owned the house he sold to Crow in Savannah
Justice’s elderly mother lived at the property and continued to do so under Crow’s ownership. Shortly after the purchase was completed, contractors began work on improvements worth tens of thousands of dollars, including a carport, permanent roof, and new fence and gates.
A federal disclosure law requires judges and other officials to report property sales in excess of $1,000. But Thomas never reported selling Savannah’s properties.
Crow told ProPublica that he bought the house, where Thomas grew up in part, to one day preserve it for future generations.
“My intention is to one day create a public museum in Thomas’ home dedicated to telling the story of our country’s second black Supreme Court justice,” he said. “I approached the Thomas family about my desire to preserve this historic site so that future generations can learn about the inspiring life of one of our greatest Americans.”
Crow didn’t say why he bought the two lots adjacent to the house, but said that “the other lots were later sold to a vetted builder committed to improving the quality of the neighborhood and preserving its historic integrity.”
It is not clear whether Crow purchased the properties at a fair market value. In 2013, he bought two properties on the same block, a vacant lot and a small house, for just $40,000.
Crow said his company bought the properties “at market rates based on many factors, including the size, quality and livability of the properties.”
Meanwhile, Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee wrote a letter to Chief Justice John Roberts demanding he open an investigation into Thomas’s gifts from his billionaire friend as they announced their own judicial ethics hearing.
Republicans in the judiciary are remarkably quiet on the issue.
The letter, spearheaded by the chairman of the judiciary Dick Durbin, called the gifts “clearly inconsistent” with the ethical standards Americans expect of “any person in a position of public trust” and urged Republicans to appointed chief justice to open an investigation ‘immediately’ to ensure Thomas’ conduct is not repeated.
Clarence Thomas pictured above with his mother Leola Williams
Durbin wrote that his committee will hold a hearing “in the coming days,” adding, “If the court does not resolve this issue itself, the committee will consider legislation to resolve it.”
Some Democrats have called on the Supreme Court to pass a formal code of ethics — it is currently the only court in the federal judiciary not to have one for its nine members.
The letter stated that a code of ethics had been called for due to coverage of Thomas’ gifts from real estate billionaire Harlan Crow in 2011, whom Roberts “fired” at the time.
Thomas, who has been showered with exotic vacations and lavish gifts by the Republican mega-donor, made a rare statement last week insisting that colleagues and “others in the judiciary” had told him that such “personal hospitality” was permissible.
Thomas flew Crow’s private jet, sailed around the world on his yacht and spent almost every summer at his resort in the Adirondacks for about two decades, according to a Pro Publica report released Thursday.
Thomas flew Crow’s private jet, sailed around the world on his yacht and spent almost every summer at his resort in the Adirondacks for about two decades, according to a Pro Publica report released Thursday.
Monday’s letter puts Roberts on edge. Some have even called on the 74-year-old justice to resign. Representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Rashida Tlaib have called for his impeachment.
Crow has donated millions to Republican campaigns and conservative groups. He also presented Thomas with a range of unusual gifts, including a bust of Abraham Lincoln and a $19,000 bible that once belonged to Frederick Douglass.
Thomas missed out on trips to Indonesia, New Zealand and Sonoma, California that he took with Crow — and which he wouldn’t have been able to afford on his $285,000-a-year salary.
Thomas makes annual trips to Topridge, Crow’s estate in the Adirondacks
The retreat offers boating and fishing opportunities and features exotic furnishings
Crow issued a lengthy statement in response to the revelations about his travels with Thomas.
“My wife Kathy and I have been friends with Judge Thomas and his wife Ginni since 1996.
We are very good friends,” he said.
“The hospitality we have extended to the Thomases over the years is no different from the hospitality we extended to our many other dear friends,” he said.
“Justice Thomas and Ginni never asked for this hospitality. We never asked about a pending or lower court case, and Judge Thomas never spoke of it, he continued.
Crow called the trips “gatherings of friends.”
Crow and Thomas met in the 1990s, a few years after Thomas joined the Supreme Court and the two have had a close relationship ever since – Crow is said to have once given Thomas’s wife Ginni $500,000 to start a Tea Party-related group. to aim.
The 74-year-old billionaire real estate developer who has lavished Thomas with gifts and travel is the chairman of a highly successful private investment firm, Crow Holdings, with nearly $29 billion in holdings, according to the Dallas Morning News.
He inherited the real estate empire founded by his father, Trammall Crow, who was the country’s largest landowner in 1986, according to the Wall Street Journal, with nearly 300 million square feet of developed real estate.
He has been active in Republican politics, at one time served on the founding committee of the Club for Growth and served on the board of the American Enterprise Institute.
He has donated millions to Republican campaigns and conservative groups. He also presented Thomas with a series of unusual gifts, such as a bust of Abraham Lincoln and a ,000 bible that once belonged to Frederick Douglass.
a ProPublic The report found that Thomas made a ruling in his own favor by allowing himself to use luxury jets, a mega yacht and stunning retreats all owned by the same real estate mogul.
He bought and helped restore Camp Topridge in the Adirondacks, tearing down some buildings and building new ones in the facility once owned by Marjorie Merriweather Post.
A friend of the Bush family, Crow is a trustee of the George W. Bush Presidential Center in Texas and also supports the Hoover Institution at Stanford University.
He is a member of the Most High Court Historical Society, though he said in a statement that he has never done business in Thomas’ court.
Crow has not been a party to a Supreme Court lawsuit, but has been involved with two conservative groups involved in filing supporting orders in cases coming before the Supreme Court.