WASHINGTON (AP) — Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas says he wasn’t required to disclose the many trips he and his wife took that were paid for by a Republican megadonor. Thomas says in a statement he was advised by court colleagues and others in the federal judiciary that “this sort of personal hospitality from close personal friends, who did not have business before the Court, was not reportable.”
Thomas didn’t name the other justices or those in the judiciary with whom he had consulted. ProPublica reported that Thomas has for more than two decades accepted luxury trips from the donor nearly every year without reporting them. Justices must file an annual financial disclosure report, but there are exemptions for hospitality from friends.