#Politics

A Bali trip, Beyonce tickets and big book advances among Supreme Court justices’ financial disclosures



WASHINGTON — Justice Clarence Thomas reported a 2019 trip to Bali with billionaire friend Harlan Crow in his annual financial disclosure report released Friday — a previously reported instance of the justice’s cozy relationship with the real-estate billionaire.

Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson received concert tickets worth $3,700 from pop superstar Beyonce, according to her report.

She and other justices also announced big advances for books they are working on — with Jackson’s by far the largest: $894,000 for her upcoming book, compared to $340,000 for Justice Brett Kavanaugh and $250,000 for Justice Neil Gorsuch. That Kavanaugh — whose confirmation hearing was dominated by accusations of sexual misconduct dating back decades (which he denied) — is writing a book was first reported by Axios on Thursday.

Justice Sonia Sotomayor also announced more than $86,000 in book royalties, plus a more modest $1,879 payment for doing voiceover work for her appearance on the animated children’s show “Alma’s Way.”

The annual reports list such things as outside earnings, assets, gifts and stock holdings. Justices can ask for an extension, which Justice Samuel Alito has done, meaning his report was not available.

Thomas’ disclosure of his 2019 trip to Bali as well as another trip to California the same year to the private Bohemian Grove club, both with Crow, correspond to trips that Pro Publica reported on last year in a series of Pulitzer Prize-winning stories about previously undisclosed luxury travel that raised questions about the Supreme Court’s commitment to ethics rules.

Thomas’ report said the two trips had been “inadvertently omitted” from his 2019 report. There was no mention in Thomas’ report of any Crow-related trips since the Pro Publica stories were published.

The Supreme Court adopted a new code of conduct last year amid the scrutiny over the justices’ ethics, although it has been heavily criticized for lacking any enforcement mechanism.



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