Clarence Thomas' bromance with real-estate magnate Harlan Crow includes lavish gifts that have not been disclosed, suggesting even SCOTUS has justice for sale

Clarence and Ginni Thomas (front, left); Harlan Crow (back, right)

Clarence Thomas, justice on the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS), has accepted luxury trips from a Texas billionaire for more than two decades and failed to disclose most of them -- in apparent violation of federal law, according to a report at ProPublica. The story of Thomas' friendship with real-estate magnate Harlan Crow appears to intersect with several stories we have covered here at Legal Schnauzer -- including my unlawful "arrest for blogging" in 2013, our reporting on the political prosecution of former Alabama Governor Don Siegelman (a Democrat) in 2005-06, and our coverage of a divorce case (2001-05) involving one of the South's wealthiest families, a clan with close personal ties to both Clarence Thomas and Harlan Crow.

Has the Thomas-Crow friendship contributed to federal-court corruption in at least three Southern states (Alabama, Georgia, and Florida)? Has it also helped lead to unlawful rulings in the three cases cited above -- and perhaps many more? We've uncovered evidence that suggests the answer to both questions is yes.

The Thomas-Crow connections should be of particular concern if you live in the Deep South. Why? Each SCOTUS justice has a circuit assignment, and the Eleventh Circuit (covering Alabama, Georgia, and Florida) is assigned to . . . Clarence Thomas. Is it a coincidence that the circuit over which Clarence Thomas presides happens to be perhaps the most corrupt circuit in the country -- with stiff competition from the Fifth Circuit (covering Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas). We have powerful evidence that it is not. When you consider that the Eleventh Circuit and Fifth Circuit states used to form one circuit -- in fact, you still can find Eleventh Circuit case law that originated in the old Fifth Circuit -- it raises this question: Does Clarence Thomas' peculiar brand of shaky ethics, and his tendency to favor wealthy elites, hold sway over the entire South -- from Florida to Texas? When you have seen numerous wildly unlawful rulings issuing from the Eleventh Circuit, as we have, that question has particular resonance.

Why should this be of concern to all Southerners -- indeed, all Americans? The case of a Birmingham, AL, woman named Sherry Carroll Rollins illustrates the point. Sherry Carroll married a man named Ted Rollins (who now is deceased), a member of one of the nation's wealthiest families; their business interests include Orkin Pest Control, Rollins Inc. Dover Downs, Rollins Jamaica Resorts, Rollins Truck Leasing (now owned by Penske), and more. Sources tell Legal Schnauzer that the Rollinses are the second largest landowners in the South, next to Ted Turner. Rollins has six massive cattle ranches spread throughout Florida and Georgia, which come under Rollins Ranches LLC. The family also holds the 6,500-acre Rollins Hunt Preserve in Florida.

Sherry Rollins sought a divorce from Ted Rollins when the family, which included two young daughters, lived in South Carolina. Ted Rollins failed to maintain court-ordered mortgage and insurance payments on the family home, so Sherry and the girls were forced to flee to Alabama, where she had extended family. Ted Rollins then managed to get the divorce case shifted to Shelby County, Alabama, despite "black letter law" stating that cannot be done, The principle perhaps is best cited in a case styled Wesson v. Wesson, 628 So. 2d 953 (Ala., 1993), which holds:

Once jurisdiction has attached in one court, that court has the exclusive right to continue its exercise of power until the completion of the case, and is only subject to appellate authority.

The ruling of Alabama judge Al Crowson was so one-sided in Ted Rollins' favor that his ex-wife and daughters wound up having to survive on food stamps.

Thanks to ProPublica, we now know that Clarence Thomas long has been on the take from moneyed interests. The party with the deepest pockets certainly came out on top in the Rollins divorce case. 

Both Clarence Thomas and Harlan Crow have longstanding personal friendships with members of the Rollins family, and because of that and our reporting on Rollins v. Rollins,  we have written about the Thomas-Crow relationship -- and its ties to the justice system -- going back to 2011. Our early reporting on that subject can be viewed at links here and here.

We will take a detailed examination of those issues in future posts, but for now, the heart of the Thomas-Crow story is that a sitting member of the nation's highest court appears to have repeatedly violated federal law by failing to disclose lavish gifts he and his wife, Ginni, received from Harlan Crow or his companies. Write ProPublica reporters Joshua Kaplan, Justin Elliott, and Alex Mierjeski under the headline "Clarence Thomas and the Billionaire":

For more than two decades, Thomas has accepted luxury trips virtually every year from the Dallas businessman without disclosing them, documents and interviews show. A public servant who has a salary of $285,000, he has vacationed on Crow’s super yacht around the globe. He flies on Crow’s Bombardier Global 5000 jet. He has gone with Crow to the Bohemian Grove, the exclusive California all-male retreat, and to Crow’s sprawling ranch in East Texas. And Thomas typically spends about a week every summer at Crow’s private resort in the Adirondacks.

The extent and frequency of Crow’s apparent gifts to Thomas have no known precedent in the modern history of the U.S. Supreme Court.

These trips appeared nowhere on Thomas’ financial disclosures. His failure to report the flights appears to violate a law passed after Watergate that requires justices, judges, members of Congress, and federal officials to disclose most gifts, two ethics law experts said. He also should have disclosed his trips on the yacht, these experts said.

Thomas did not respond to a detailed list of questions.

In a statement, Crow acknowledged that he’d extended “hospitality” to the Thomases “over the years,” but said that Thomas never asked for any of it and it was “no different from the hospitality we have extended to our many other dear friends.”

Through his largesse, Crow has gained a unique form of access, spending days in private with one of the most powerful people in the country. By accepting the trips, Thomas has broken long-standing norms for judges’ conduct, ethics experts and four current or retired federal judges said.

Those close to the federal judiciary, seemed to be stunned by the Thomas-Crow revelations:

“It’s incomprehensible to me that someone would do this,” said Nancy Gertner, a retired federal judge appointed by President Bill Clinton. When she was on the bench, Gertner said, she was so cautious about appearances that she wouldn’t mention her title when making dinner reservations: “It was a question of not wanting to use the office for anything other than what it was intended.”

Virginia Canter, a former government ethics lawyer who served in administrations of both parties, said Thomas “seems to have completely disregarded his higher ethical obligations.”

        “When a justice’s lifestyle is being subsidized by the rich and famous, it absolutely corrodes public         trust,” said Canter, now at the watchdog group CREW. “Quite frankly, it makes my heart sink.”

Here is one example of Crow's generosity to the Thomases:

In late June 2019, right after the U.S. Supreme Court released its final opinion of the term, Justice Clarence Thomas boarded a large private jet headed to Indonesia. He and his wife were going on vacation: nine days of island-hopping in a volcanic archipelago on a super yacht staffed by a coterie of attendants and a private chef.

If Thomas had chartered the plane and the 162-foot yacht himself, the total cost of the trip could have exceeded $500,000. Fortunately for him, that wasn’t necessary: He was on vacation with real-estate magnate and Republican mega-donor Harlan Crow, who owned the jet — and the yacht, too.

For more than two decades, Thomas has accepted luxury trips virtually every year from the Dallas businessman without disclosing them, documents and interviews show.

        The extent and frequency of Crow’s apparent gifts to Thomas have no known precedent         in the modern history of the U.S. Supreme Court.

These trips appeared nowhere on Thomas’ financial disclosures. His failure to report the flights appears to violate a law passed after Watergate that requires justices, judges, members of Congress and federal officials to disclose most gifts, two ethics law experts said. He also should have disclosed his trips on the yacht, these experts said.

How did the Thomas-Crow relationship become unmasked? From the ProPublica report:

ProPublica uncovered the details of Thomas’ travel by drawing from flight records, internal documents distributed to Crow’s employees and interviews with dozens of people ranging from his super yacht’s staff to members of the secretive Bohemian Club to an Indonesian scuba-diving instructor.

Federal judges sit in a unique position of public trust. They have lifetime tenure, a privilege intended to insulate them from the pressures and potential corruption of politics. A code of conduct for federal judges below the Supreme Court requires them to avoid even the “appearance of impropriety.” Members of the high court, Chief Justice John Roberts has written, “consult” that code for guidance. The Supreme Court is left almost entirely to police itself.

There are few restrictions on what gifts justices can accept. That’s in contrast to the other branches of government. Members of Congress are generally prohibited from taking gifts worth $50 or more and would need approval from an ethics committee to take many of the trips Thomas has accepted from Crow.

This is not the first time Thomas' ethics have been questioned:

Thomas’ approach to ethics has already attracted public attention. Last year, Thomas didn’t recuse himself from cases that touched on the involvement of his wife, Ginni, in efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election. While his decision generated outcry, it could not be appealed.

Crow met Thomas after he became a justice. The pair have become genuine friends, according to people who know both men. Over the years, some details of Crow’s relationship with the Thomases have emerged. In 2011, The New York Times reported on Crow’s generosity toward the justice. That same year, Politico revealed that Crow had given half a million dollars to a Tea Party group founded by Ginni Thomas, which also paid her a $120,000 salary. But the full scale of Crow’s benefactions has never been revealed.

Long an influential figure in pro-business conservative politics, Crow has spent millions on ideological efforts to shape the law and the judiciary. Crow and his firm have not had a case before the Supreme Court since Thomas joined it, though the court periodically hears major cases that directly impact the real estate industry. The details of his discussions with Thomas over the years remain unknown, and it is unclear if Crow has had any influence on the justice’s views.

In his statement, Crow said that he and his wife have never discussed a pending or lower-court case with Thomas. “We have never sought to influence Justice Thomas on any legal or political issue,” he added.

In Thomas’ public appearances over the years, he has presented himself as an "every man" with modest tastes.

“I don’t have any problem with going to Europe, but I prefer the United States, and I prefer seeing the regular parts of the United States,” Thomas said in a recent interview for a documentary about his life, which Crow helped finance.

“I prefer the RV parks. I prefer the Wal-mart parking lots to the beaches and things like that. There’s something normal to me about it,” Thomas said. “I come from regular stock, and I prefer that — I prefer being around that.”

Thomas has been a regular at Camp Topridge, Crow's private lakeside resort in upstate New York, and the place provides abundant evidence of the two men's friendship -- and their tendency to meet with well-known conservative political figures:

Crow’s private lakeside resort, Camp Topridge, sits in a remote corner of the Adirondacks in upstate New York. Closed off from the public by ornate wooden gates, the 105-acre property, once the summer retreat of the same heiress who built Mar-a-Lago, features an artificial waterfall and a great hall where Crow’s guests are served meals prepared by private chefs. Inside, there’s clear evidence of the Crow and Thomas relationship: a painting of the two men at the resort, sitting outdoors smoking cigars alongside conservative political operatives. A statue of a Native American man, arms outstretched, stands at the center of the image, which is photographic in its clarity.

The painting captures a scene from around five years ago, said Sharif Tarabay, the artist who was commissioned by Crow to paint it. Thomas has been vacationing at Topridge virtually every summer for more than two decades, according to interviews with more than a dozen visitors and former resort staff, as well as records obtained by ProPublica. He has fished with a guide hired by Crow and danced at concerts put on by musicians Crow brought in. Thomas has slept at perhaps the resort’s most elegant accommodation, an opulent lodge overhanging Upper St. Regis Lake.

The mountainous area draws billionaires from across the globe. Rooms at a nearby hotel built by the Rockefellers start at $2,250 a night. Crow’s invitation-only resort is even more exclusive. Guests stay for free, enjoying Topridge’s more than 25 fireplaces, three boathouses, clay tennis court and batting cage, along with more eccentric features: a life-size replica of the Harry Potter character Hagrid’s hut, bronze statues of gnomes, and a 1950s-style soda fountain where Crow’s staff fixes milkshakes.

Is this just a story about Clarence Thomas and Harlan Crow being fishing buddies? No, reports ProPublica -- and Crow himself hardly is a mere bystander, who happens to have deep pockets:

Crow’s access to the justice extends to anyone the businessman chooses to invite along. Thomas’ frequent vacations at Topridge have brought him into contact with corporate executives and political activists.

During just one trip in July 2017, Thomas’ fellow guests included executives at Verizon and PricewaterhouseCoopers, major Republican donors, and one of the leaders of the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), a pro-business conservative think tank, according to records reviewed by ProPublica. The painting of Thomas at Topridge shows him in conversation with Leonard Leo, the Federalist Society leader regarded as an architect of the Supreme Court’s recent turn to the right.

In his statement to ProPublica, Crow said he is “unaware of any of our friends ever lobbying or seeking to influence Justice Thomas on any case, and I would never invite anyone who I believe had any intention of doing that.”

“These are gatherings of friends,” Crow said. Quite a few of those friends just happen to be conservative activists.

Crow has deep connections in conservative politics. The heir to a real-estate fortune, Crow oversees his family’s business empire and recently named Marxism as his greatest fear. He was an early patron of the powerful anti-tax group Club for Growth and has been on the board of AEI for more than 25 years. He also sits on the board of the Hoover Institution, another conservative think tank.

A major Republican donor for decades, Crow has given more than $10 million in publicly disclosed political contributions. He’s also given to groups that keep their donors secret — how much of this so-called dark money he’s given and to whom are not fully known. “I don’t disclose what I’m not required to disclose,” Crow once told the Times.

Crow has long supported efforts to move the judiciary to the right. He has donated to the Federalist Society and given millions of dollars to groups dedicated to tort reform and conservative jurisprudence. AEI and the Hoover Institution publish scholarship advancing conservative legal theories, and fellows at the think tanks occasionally file amicus briefs with the Supreme Court.

As for Clarence Thomas, he perhaps is the best-known judge in the country -- and one of the most powerful. What does it say about SCOTUS when Thomas repeatedly violates disclosure laws?

Justices are generally required to publicly report all gifts worth more than $415, defined as “anything of value” that isn’t fully reimbursed. There are exceptions: If someone hosts a justice at their own property, free food and lodging don’t have to be disclosed. That would exempt dinner at a friend’s house. The exemption never applied to transportation, such as private jet flights, experts said, a fact that was made explicit in recently updated filing instructions for the judiciary.

Two ethics law experts told ProPublica that Thomas’ yacht cruises, a form of transportation, also required disclosure.

“If Justice Thomas received free travel on private planes and yachts, failure to report the gifts is a violation of the disclosure law,” said Kedric Payne, senior director for ethics at the nonprofit government watchdog Campaign Legal Center. (Thomas himself once reported receiving a private jet trip from Crow, on his disclosure for 1997.)

The experts said Thomas’ stays at Topridge may have required disclosure too, in part because Crow owns it not personally but through a company. Until recently, the judiciary’s ethics guidance didn’t explicitly address the ownership issue. The recent update to the filing instructions clarifies that disclosure is required for such stays.

How many times Thomas failed to disclose trips remains unclear. Flight records from the Federal Aviation Administration and FlightAware suggest he makes regular use of Crow’s plane. The jet often follows a pattern: from its home base in Dallas to Washington Dulles airport for a brief stop, then on to a destination Thomas is visiting and back again.

ProPublica identified five such trips in addition to the Indonesia vacation. . . .

Thomas has even used the plane for a three-hour trip. On Feb. 11, 2016, the plane flew from Dallas to Dulles to New Haven, Connecticut, before flying back later that afternoon. ProPublica confirmed that Thomas was on the jet through Supreme Court security records obtained by the nonprofit Fix the Court, private jet data, a New Haven plane spotter and another person at the airport. There are no reports of Thomas making a public appearance that day, and the purpose of the trip remains unclear.

Jet charter companies told ProPublica that renting an equivalent plane for the New Haven trip could cost around $70,000.

On the weekend of Oct. 16, 2021, Crow’s jet repeated the pattern. That weekend, Thomas and Crow traveled to a Catholic cemetery in a bucolic suburb of New York City. They were there for the unveiling of a bronze statue of the justice’s beloved eighth-grade teacher, a nun, according to Catholic Cemetery magazine.

As Thomas spoke from a lectern, the monument towered over him, standing 7 feet tall and weighing 1,800 pounds, its granite base inscribed with words his teacher once told him. Thomas told the nuns assembled before him, “This extraordinary statue is dedicated to you sisters.”

He also thanked the donors who paid for the statue: Harlan and Kathy Crow.