US judge Clarence Thomas accepted luxury travel trips from billionaire Republican: Report

US Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas was accepting luxury travel trips offered by a billionaire Republican for years, as per a report published on Thursday. The gifts included private jet flights across countries and yachting in New Zealand.

Court's longest-serving justice and a staunch conservative, Thomas went on one vacation to Indonesia that alone cost around $500,000, which was paid by real estate tycoon Harlan Crow, revealed a report by ProPublica, anon-profit news outlet.

The investigation of ProPublica was based on reviews of photographs, interviews and other documents, and thelegal reform action group Fix the Court after seeing the details said that "the Supreme Court is the least accountable part of our government."

"Nothing is going to change without a wholesale, lawmaker-led reimagining of its responsibilities when it comes to basic measures of oversight," said the group's director Gabe Roth, in a statement.

The 74-year-old judge also accompanied Crow, whose relation with the justice was called "unusual and ethically sensitive" by the New York Times in 2011, for a vacation to an all-male wilderness resort located in California and to properties in New York and Texas in the last two decades.

Speaking to ProPublica, Crow said that the gifts he gave to Thomas were "no different from the hospitality we have extended to our many other dear friends," and no pending cases were ever discussed by the two.

Thomas releases statement

After the controversy snowballed, Thomas released a statement explaining his failure to disclose the trips. He said Crow and his wife Kathy were 'dearest friends' and that they had joined Crow on family trips for years.

"Early in my tenure at the Court, I sought guidance from my colleagues and others in the judiciary, and was advised that this sort of personal hospitality from close personal friends, who did not have business before the Court, was not reportable,"said Thomas.

"I have endeavored to follow that counsel throughout my tenure, and have always sought to comply with the disclosure guidelines."

Judge's behaviour inconsistent with ethical standards

ProPublica claimed that Crow gave more than $10 million to Republican political groups in donations, which included half a million dollars given to a conservative lobbying group that was founded by Ginni Thomas, wife of Thomas.

The involvement of Ginni Thomas in United States politics has attracted more scrutiny after reports suggested that she was involved in the efforts made by Donald Trump to illegally overturn the 2020 presidential election's results.

In 1991, Justice Thomas was nominated for the court after he went through a confirmation process in which he faced an accusation of sexual harassment made by a former aide.

Last year, he joined the majority of judges who gave the historic ruling and overturned the national right to abortion. He also claimed that a conservative-dominated court must examine its rulings on same-sex marriage and contraception.

Responding to Thursday's report, Democratic Senator Dick Durbin said that Thomas's "behaviour is simply inconsistent with the ethical standards the American people expect of any public servant, let alone a Justice on the Supreme Court."

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Meanwhile, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre stated, "I'm not going to comment from here. There are other bodies of government who should be dealing with this."

The media platform also shared a clip from a documentary in which Thomas claimed that he enjoyed driving around America's rural corners more than travelling to different nations.

"I don't have any problem with going to Europe, but I prefer the United States. I prefer the Walmart parking lots to the beaches and things like that. I'd come from regular stock and I prefer that,” he was heard saying in the clip.

(With inputs from agencies)

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