Harlan Crow, a billionaire from Texas, paid for the private boarding school tuition for Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas’ grandnephew.
A boy Thomas said he raised as a son.
Thomas acquired legal custody of his grandnephew when he was 6. In 2008, the boy began attending Hidden Lake Academy, a $ 6,000-per-month boarding school. Crow also “picked up the tab” when the young man transferred to Randolph-Macon Academy.
The payments were never disclosed on any financial disclosure reports.
Thomas and Crow have enjoyed a close friendship for years. Some critics of the conservative Supreme Court justice have gone so far as to say his purported failure to disclose these payments constitutes an impeachable offense.
For his part, Crow vigorously defended the payments in a statement to The Hill:
“Tuition and other financial assistance is given directly to academic institutions, not to students or to their families,” Crow’s office said. “These scholarships and other contributions have always been paid solely from personal funds, sometimes held at and paid through the family business. It’s disappointing that those with partisan political interests would try to turn helping at-risk youth with tuition assistance into something nefarious or political.”
The Hill has reached out to Thomas for comment through a court spokesperson.
Thomas previously said Crow’s paid for private jet flights and vacations with their families didn’t need to be disclosed since the real estate developer did not have business before the court. The tuition payments were not disclosed before today.
Crow also purchased real estate owned by Thomas and his family.
Bloomberg reported in late April that in at least one instance, Justice Thomas didn’t recuse himself from a case involving a company the Crow family then had a minority interest in.
Conservatives have mainly defended Thomas, saying there’s zero evidence the financial disclosures influenced his decisions. Many argue liberal justices aren’t subjected to the same level of scrutiny.
Current rules make it difficult to assess the financial standings of Supreme Court justices. Justices are only required to report conflicts of interest “in any proceeding in which his impartiality might reasonably be questioned” or when his spouse or dependent child has a financial interest “or any other interest that could be substantially affected by the outcome.”
Mark Paoletta, a friend of Thomas, defended the decision not to report the tuition payments since the child wasn’t Thomas’ son, adding:
“The Thomases have rarely spoken publicly about the remarkably generous efforts to help a child in need,” he said in a statement. “They have always respected the privacy of this young man and his family. It is disappointing and painful, but unsurprising that some journalists and critics cannot do the same.”
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Liberals are all about “Do as I say and not as I do; freedom for me, but not for thee.” They lie, steal, and deceive every minute of the day to get their way. Then have temper tantrums when a conservative wants to help a kid get an education!! Satan has loosed his demons on this earth in the form of Democrats. 😠
Surprised that a newsfeed known as “American Liberty” has to review and possibly moderate comments we make when exercising our First Amendment rights. Disappointing to say the least.
Big deal! Wish I had friends like that. As long as the guy had no business before the court, it means nothing. I would assume that Thomas would recuse himself if this person ever did need to appear before the court for some reason. Seems the left is trying to say SCOTUS justices are not allowed to have personal friends. As Shakespeare put it, “Much ado about nothing”.
The libs will not be happy till Clarence Thomas is gone from the Supreme Court which is such a hypocritical contrast to their constant whining about racism. There are no more racist people on the planet than the liberals who are going after this man again and again and again. In the meantime, Hillary is still running around after paying for the biggest political hoax in US history, costing the taxpayers millions of dollars for phony investigations into things they already knew were fake. Shame on all of you. Leave the man alone.
So what? Has this “Megadonor” had any cases before the Supreme Court? None reported, so what’s the big deal? Sotomayor on the other hand takes $3M from Random House and then listens to their cases on the court. Hmmm….
But she’s part of the liberal left so those same rules don’t apply to her. Somehow, someway, Thomas has to hang on until we can get another republican in the white house, then if he wants he can retire. This country can’t afford to have the libs get another justice on the SC, at least not if we want to keep our constitutional republic.
I confess! I have not disclosed any of the support other people provided to any of my grandnephews or grandnieces. I feel so ashamed!
…On the other hand, I have faithfully disclosed and recused myself anytime in my official capacity a matter came before me where directly or indirectly I had a vested interest in the outcome. As opposed to what a certain Supreme Court justice did in a case with their publisher who paid her over $3 million. (Yes, we see you Justice Sotomayor.)
Who Cares Dems do same thing Its more BS
Big deal. Seems pretty minor compared to the blatant corruption of the demoRats.