Clarence Thomas has an 'emotional support billionaire': legal expert
Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas left out additional gifts he received from Republican donor Harlan Crow, and a legal analyst blasted the judge for desperately needing an "emotional support billionaire."
The Senate Judiciary Committee revealed that two trips, one on Crow's private jet and another on his yacht, went previously undisclosed despite editing his previous disclosures to include other trips.
Crow told The Associated Press in a statement that he cooperated with the investigation and provided all requested information.
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The report also revealed trips that Justice Samuel Alito accepted from Paul Singer.
"I think it has finally put the nail in the coffin in this idea that the Supreme Court can police itself," Gabe Roth, who leads the organization Fix the Court, told MSNBC's Alicia Menendez on Monday.
Legal analyst and NYU law school professor Melissa Murray called the move "Clarence Thomas Clarence-Thomasing" again.
"This is a man who apparently has an emotional support billionaire, and the rest of the country just has to be okay with it," Murray continued.
"But I will say that I think the fact that there has been so much attention paid to this sort of thing, the failure to disclose these gifts, the fact that the justices enjoy quite cozy relationships with individuals who appear before the court and have business before the court, it is making an impact," she said.
She cited a recent report from Accountable.us, another government watchdog group that discovered Justice Neil Gorsuch had a close relationship with someone involved in a case before the court. It was then found that Gorsuch owned property with a company board member.
Gorsuch ultimately recused himself, a sign, she said, the justices know they are being watched.
"These circles are small, but it has to be the case that the justices, if they're going to self-police, actually do so quite rigorously," said Murray.
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