US scandal: Supreme Court justice accused of receiving ‘handouts’

After the scandal that erupted in recent days and led to the request for “immediate resignation” on Clarence Thomas, the Supreme Court judge accused of receiving gifts issued a disclaimer in which he justified the constant luxurious vacations he made with his friend, real estate mogul Harlan Crow. U.S. judge. From the anti-corruption law sanctioned in 1970 after the Watergate case, the members of the Supreme Court must deliver financial reports to the Court, and in them, Thomas omitted the expensive trips he made with Crow.With a lifetime position in the Supreme Court and more than 20 years of work, this Friday the judge issued a disclaimer in which he justified the omission in the reports. “When I entered the Supreme Court, I asked my colleagues and other members of the judiciary and was informed that I did not have to report this type of hospitality by personal friends not connected with the court,” he said. In that sense, he indicated that Crow is one of his “dearest friends”, with whom he made “family trips” during the last two decades. A recent investigation, conducted by the newspaper ProPublica, revealed that the magistrate traveled the world with the real estate mogul on his superyacht, made several trips in his private plane and has the habit of spending a week each summer at the resort that his friend owns in the Adirondack mountains, northeast of New York. After the scandal broke, several Democratic congressmen demanded his immediate resignation, and even asked the judge to impeach himself, the only way by which a member with a lifetime position can be removed. Thomas said he will comply with the rule update announced last month, which requires members to report travel on private jets and stays at private resorts.

Original source in Spanish