Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas on Friday formally disclosed a 2019 trip to Indonesia paid for by GOP megadonor Harlan Crow, a vacation that was at the center of the controversy over his travel.
The trip to Bali was the focus of the original report in ProPublica last year that triggered months of headlines about posh travel accepted by justices. Though the news organization’s reporting raised awareness of the trip, Thomas did not formally disclose it on his previous reports.
Thomas’ annual financial disclosure, which would typically disclose travel, gifts and outside income for the prior year, included a note at the end listing Harlan and Kathy Crow as the source of a trip to Bali in July 2019. The couple paid for “food and lodging,” according to the report. Thomas did not place a value on the travel.
what even is the point of a Supreme Court Justice reporting if it will have no consequence?
Exactly.
But I don’t really see it changing because it would almost certainly require a constitutional amendment. Any congressional legislation that carried a punishment would almost certainly be shot down by the court itself.