U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas' billionaire friend is only pretending to cooperate with a Senate ethics investigation, a former chief counsel on the Senate Judiciary Committee told Newsweek.
Attorney Alex Aronson, who was instrumental in investigating Thomas' connections to wealthy Republican donors, was reacting to Thursday's announcement by the Senate Judiciary Committee that it has issued subpoenas to Leonard Leo, a conservative activist, and the billionaire Harlan Crow, compelling them to appear before the committee.
The subpoenas were the latest steps in the committee's inquiry into the Supreme Court justices. The committee's Republican minority, which supports Thomas, walked out of Thursday's committee hearing in protest.
Thomas is facing an investigation for allegedly accepting lavish vacations from Crow—including a $500,000 trip to Indonesia in 2019—getting money from another donor to buy a recreational vehicle and other ethics violations.
Aronson said Crow and Leo "are at the center of a decades-long secret influence scheme to line the pockets of their ultra-conservative allies on the Supreme Court."
Crow's spokesman said in a statement to Newsweek that Crow had done all he could to cooperate with the committee, despite concerns about his constitutional rights. The statement also said that issuing Crow a subpoena was a headline-grabbing exercise, a claim Aronson strongly rejects. The statement was a reissue of one Crow's spokesman released in October when the committee was debating the issuing of subpoenas.
"Crow's proffer to the committee of minimal evidence is nothing but a smokescreen to hide these years of corrupt billionaire influence, which have corresponded with a wave of party-line Supreme Court rulings handing huge political wins to corporations and the wealthiest few," Aronson said.
"Mr. Crow's supposed 'constitutional' concerns have been widely rejected by legal scholars and are incompatible with history and tradition. The Supreme Court recently made clear that 'the power of the Congress to conduct investigations is inherent in the legislative process.'"
The statement by Crow's spokesman said, "it's disappointing that one party on the Committee would choose to pursue an unnecessary, partisan, and politically motivated subpoena instead of simply reciprocating Mr. Crow's good faith efforts at a reasonable compromise that respects both sides."
"We offered extensive information responsive to the Committee's requests despite the serious constitutional and privacy concerns presented to the Committee, which were ignored and remain unaddressed."
Newsweek reached out to Thomas and Leo by email on Friday for comment.
In April, the ProPublica investigative website released a report that found Thomas and his wife had taken undisclosed trips, and received other benefits, paid for by Crow.
Thomas' trips reportedly took place over 20 years and were not disclosed among the financial gifts that he received.
One 2019 trip, which involved flying to Indonesia on Crow's private jet and touring the islands on Crow's 162-foot yacht, would have cost Thomas $500,000 had he paid for it, ProPublica claimed. The yacht trip included a private chef and a retinue of staff.
In response, Thomas released a statement, describing Crow and his wife as "among our dearest friends." Thomas added that he was "advised that this sort of personal hospitality from close personal friends, who did not have business before the court, was not reportable."
On July 9, the New York Times reported that Thomas had received a range of gifts from wealthy friends through the prestigious Horatio Alger Association.
A Senate Finance Committee report found that Thomas failed to repay a significant portion of a $267,230 loan from 1999 by health care businessman Anthony Welters. The justice used this money to buy a luxury RV. Welters told the Times: "I loaned a friend money, as I have other friends and family."
"The loan was never forgiven," Elliot Berke, Thomas' attorney, told Reuters at the time. "Any suggestion to the contrary is false. The Thomases made all payments to Mr. Welters on a regular basis until the terms of the agreement were satisfied in full."
In September, Thomas said that he took three trips last year aboard Crow's private plane. He did not acknowledge any earlier travel at Crow's expense, including the 2019 trip to Indonesia.
On October 30, the committee revealed that it is trying to subpoena Thomas' Republican donors. It said that some justices have been "joining billionaires with business before the Court on their private planes and yachts or receiving gifts such as private school tuition for a family member."
Chairman Dick Durbin, an Illinois Democrat, said the committee would vote on issuing subpoenas after the "intransigence" the donors have shown in refusing to come before the committee to explain their relationship with Thomas, the longest-serving member of the court.
Update, 12/01/23, 6:05 p.m ET: This article was updated to reflect that Alex Aronson is a former chief counsel on the Senate Judiciary Committee rather than the former chief counsel of the Committee.
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Sean O'Driscoll is a Newsweek Senior Crime and Courts Reporter based in Ireland. His focus is reporting on U.S. law. ... Read more
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