Clarence Thomas asks for extension on financial disclosure after ethics controversy

Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas asked for an extension to file his annual financial disclosure, a move that comes in the wake of a ProPublica investigation into trips he accepted from a GOP megadonor.

The high court’s 2022 disclosures were made public Wednesday afternoon, but a justice is allowed to request up to a 90-day extension. 

Thomas and fellow conservative Justice Samuel Alito both requested extensions, a spokesman for the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts confirmed. 

The annual forms include descriptions of each justice’s investment holdings as well as gifts and reimbursements.

Thomas’s form will mark the first financial disclosure made public since extensive reports about undisclosed luxury trips the conservative justice accepted from Harlan Crow during their years-long friendship. Crow has denied influencing the justice.

Thomas has said he was advised that the trips fell under a personal hospitality exception and did not need to be reported. The federal judiciary’s policymaking arm clarified the guidance in March.

“These guidelines are now being changed, as the committee of the Judicial Conference responsible for financial disclosure for the entire federal judiciary just this past month announced new guidance. And, it is, of course, my intent to follow this guidance in the future,” Thomas said in April.

ProPublica’s report led to an uproar from Democrats and judicial watchdog groups, who have renewed a push for the high court to adopt a binding code of ethics. The justices in April all signed a new statement committing to following ethical principles.

The outlet’s investigation also revealed that Crow’s company in 2014 bought a series of Savannah, Ga., properties owned by the conservative justice, his mother and the family of Thomas’s late brother.

The sale, made for $133,363, included a single-story home and two vacant lots. The justice’s mother continued living in the home after the purchase, as contractors performed tens of thousands of dollars of improvement on the home.

CNN reported in April that Thomas planned to amend the disclosure.