Wealthy Dallas-based Republican donor Harlan Crow bankrolled the private school tuition of Justice Clarence Thomas's grandnephew, who was being raised by the justice "as a son," according to a new report.
Thomas's grandnephew, Mark Martin, went to Hidden Lake Academy in Georgia and also attended Randolph-Macon Academy in Virginia. The cost to attend Hidden Lake was reportedly $6,000 a month, according to the investigative outlet ProPublica.
DEMOCRATS SLAMMED FOR 'THREATENING' SUPREME COURT'S SECURITY IN EXCHANGE FOR ETHICS CODE
In a separate instance, Crow's company sent a $6,200 payment to the school in July 2009. The outlet reported that Crow made more payments beyond the single one in 2009, according to court filings.
“Harlan Crow has long been passionate about the importance of quality education and giving back to those less fortunate, especially at-risk youth,” according to a statement from his office. “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.”
It has been reported Thomas went on undisclosed trips at Crow’s expense and that Crow also bought property that belonged to the justice's family. Those reports prompted Democrats in the Senate to unleash complaints and allegations about a lack of ethical oversight on the Supreme Court, leading to a hearing this week in the Senate Judiciary Committee on whether Congress can impose new rules to regulate the highest court.
Following the initial revelation of the trips, Thomas offered a rare response, saying he "always sought" to comply with disclosure rules but was "advised" the trips were not necessary to report on his public forms.
An attorney and friend of the Thomas family, Mark Paoletta, released a lengthy statement defending Thomas on Twitter Thursday morning following the latest report.
STATEMENT OF MARK PAOLETTA, FRIEND OF JUSTICE THOMAS
— Mark Paoletta (@MarkPaoletta) May 4, 2023
The Thomases have rarely spoken publicly about the remarkably generous efforts to help a child in need. They have always respected the privacy of this young man and his family. It is disappointing and painful, but unsurprising…
"The Thomases — quietly and honorably — devoted twelve years of their lives to helping a beloved child in desperate need of love, support, and guidance. In 1997, Justice Thomas and his wife brought their great nephew to live with them. They agreed to take in this young child much as Justice Thomas’s grandparents had done for him and his brother in 1955. Justice Thomas’s grandparents changed the trajectory of his life, and the Thomases hoped to do the same for a child in need," Paoletta wrote.
Paoletta said that Crow's payments to Randolph-Macon extended back to the 1980s and that he had donated money for scholarships to students from "disadvantaged outcomes."
"Harlan offered to pay the first year of Justice Thomas’s great nephew’s tuition in 2006, and that payment went directly to the school. Harlan Crow’s Office confirmed that he did not pay the great nephew’s tuition for any other year at Randolph Macon," Paoletta said.
Paoletta called the report on Thomas "malicious" and "another attempt" to tarnish the justice's legacy.
Meanwhile, Democrats believe there is a legitimate need for the Supreme Court to have some form of heightened ethics code that is binding so that the justices are not viewed as policing their own ethical decisions, such as whether to recuse from the case if there is an apparent conflict of interest.
“I hope that Chief Justice Roberts reads this story this morning and understands something has to be done,” Dick Durbin told CNN regarding the report. “The reputation of the Supreme Court is at stake here. ... His reputation as a leader of this court is really an issue as well.”
Since early April, a string of reports related to ethical concerns surrounding the justices have focused primarily on Republican-appointed members of the high court. But on Wednesday, the Daily Wire reported that liberal Justice Sonia Sotomayor, who received millions from book publisher Penguin Random House, voted on a key issue regarding the publisher despite other similarly positioned justices deciding to recuse themselves from that case.
Several Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee criticized this week what they view as an attempt by the media and the Democrats to slander Thomas.
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They're trying “to try to wear Justice Thomas down," Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) said on his Verdict podcast.
“And the objective of the Left, I believe, is they hope to drive him away from the court,” the Texas Republican said.