Justice Clarence Thomas Gets Extension for Financial Report (1)

US Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas received a 90-day extension for his 2022 financial disclosure report after coming under criticism for failing to report lavish trips and gifts paid for by billionaire GOP megadonor Harlan Crow.

The justice, whose disclosures were widely anticipated in the wake of the controversy over Crow, typically files his financial disclosures by the May 15 deadline.

As he has in the past, Justice Samuel Alito also received an extension, according to the administrative office for the federal judiciary. The other justices filed their disclosure reports.

Read other justices’ filings here.

The upcoming release could offer fresh insight into Thomas’s finances for the first time since revelations this spring that Thomas and his wife traveled on Crow’s yacht and private jet. The GOP megadonor also bought Thomas’s childhood home in Georgia from the justice and his relatives, and paid for private schooling for Thomas’s grandnephew.

In April, after facing scrutiny over his ties to Crow, Thomas said he would adhere to new gift-reporting guidelines issued by the Judicial Conference, which makes policy for the federal judiciary. Those changes narrowed the exemption for “personal hospitality,” clarifying that a broader array of trips should be reported going forward.

The high court is not bound by the code of conduct that applies to other federal judges, though the justices say they follow those guidelines anyway.

Public confidence in the Supreme Court has declined amid the recent ethics controversies, according to recent polling.

The justices continued to make money from their books in 2022. Justice Sonia Sotomayor earned nearly $150,000 in book royalties from Penguin Random House, an increase of roughly $33,000 since the previous year. Retired Justice Stephen Breyer reported $194,000 in royalties for the year.

Justices Brett Kavanaugh and Neil Gorsuch both reported incomes of around $29,000 from teaching at George Mason University. Amy Coney Barrett reported about $29,000 for teaching at the University of Notre Dame Law School.

(Updates starting from third paragraph.)

--With assistance from Greg Stohr.

To contact the reporters on this story:
Emily Birnbaum in Washington at ebirnbaum3@bloomberg.net;
Lydia Wheeler in Arlington at ldavenport15@bloomberg.net;
Kimberly Robinson in Arlington at krobinson103@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story:
Sara Forden at sforden@bloomberg.net

Elizabeth Wasserman

© 2023 Bloomberg L.P. All rights reserved. Used with permission.