The Republican mega-donor Harlan Crow paid for the great-nephew of Clarence Thomas, whom the conservative supreme court justice raised “as a son”, to attend a private boarding school in Georgia.
“Harlan picked up the tab,” a former school administrator said.
Thomas did not declare the payments.
The report, by ProPublica, stoked a fresh blaze of controversy surrounding Thomas over ties between the justice, his family members and conservative figures outside the court. It was followed hours later by reporting from the Washington Post that found rightwing legal activist Leonard Leo had arranged for Thomas’s wife, Ginni, to receive tens of thousands of dollars for consulting work between 2011 and 2012. Leo specifically asked that Ginni Thomas’s name not be included on billing paperwork, according to the Post’s reporting.
Leo, who has close ties to the Thomases and has backed conservative causes and judges through a network of nonprofits, told the newspaper he was trying to protect the couple’s privacy by leaving her name off.
ProPublica’s latest story builds on previous reporting that detailed extensive gifts from Crow including luxury travel and resort stays which Thomas rarely declared.
ProPublica then showed how Crow bought from Thomas property in which the justice’s mother still lives. That transaction was not declared.
Thomas said he was advised he did not have to declare such gifts but would now follow ethics guidelines.
Crow said he never discussed business before the court or politics with the justice and his far-right activist wife, Ginni Thomas, to whom Crow has donated.
The Guardian has shown Crow has had business before the court during his friendship with Thomas.
Supreme court justices are subject to federal ethics rules, which observers say Thomas broke. But the court essentially governs itself.
Democrats have called for action, to strengthen ethics rules or to impeach Thomas.
Impeachment is a non-starter, as Republicans hold the House and will protect the 6-3 conservative court majority, which has passed down major rulings including removing the right to abortion.
Furthermore, the Democratic chair of the Senate judiciary committee could not subpoena Thomas for testimony even if he wanted to, the absence through ill-health of the California senator Dianne Feinstein robbing Democrats of the necessary majority.
Earlier this month, after a report about another conservative justice, Neil Gorsuch, and a property sale, the chief justice, John Roberts, refused an invitation to testify.
Roberts has also seen reports about how his wife, a legal recruiter, has made millions including from at least one firm with business before the court.
ProPublica said Crow paid for Thomas’s great-nephew, Mark Martin, to attend Hidden Lake Academy.
“Tuition at the boarding school ran more than $6,000 a month,” it said. “But Thomas did not cover the bill. A bank statement for the school from July 2009, buried in unrelated court filings, shows the source of Martin’s tuition payment for that month: the company of billionaire real-estate magnate Harlan Crow.”
Christopher Grimwood, the ex-administrator, said Crow paid for a whole year.
ProPublica also said: “Before and after his time at Hidden Lake, Martin attended a second boarding school … in Virginia”.
Grimwood said: “Harlan said he was paying for the tuition at Randolph-Macon Academy as well.”
Crow went to Randolph-Macon.
Martin told ProPublica he was unaware of who paid his fees, calling Crow “just a friend and just a good person”.
ProPublica said the bill for Martin’s schooling could have passed $150,000. Thomas did declare $5,000 from another donor for his great-nephew’s schooling.
Thomas did not respond.
Crow did not dispute ProPublica’s reporting. He said he had “long been passionate about the importance of quality education and giving back to those less fortunate, especially at-risk youth”.
“It’s disappointing that those with partisan political interests would try to turn [this] into something nefarious or political.”
Observers see something nefarious or political in Crow’s relationship with Thomas.
On Thursday, the writer David Simon referred to the supreme court justice who was forced to resign in 1969, over outside financial dealings, saying: “The ghost of Abe Fortas is now walking the halls of the high court muttering obscenities.
“Clarence Thomas is the most corrupt justice in American history and we are simply sitting on our hands and letting him devour the integrity of the US supreme court.”
