GOP Megadonor Harlan Crow Denies Talking About Supreme Court With Clarence Thomas

Topline

Real estate magnate and GOP donor Harlan Crow denied talking with Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas about the court and its cases in an interview with the Atlantic published Monday, defending his longtime friendship with the justice—and their financial relationship—as it has come under widespread scrutiny for potential ethics and legal issues.

Harlan Crow at the Old Parkland estate offices in Dallas, Texas, on October 2, 2015.

Key Facts

Crow told the Atlantic he has “never, nor would I ever, think about talking about matters that relate to the judiciary with Justice Clarence Thomas,” after a series of ProPublica reports detailed how the real estate magnate has funded luxury travel for the justice, purchased real estate from him and funded tuition for Thomas’ grandnephew—without disclosing the gifts, which many ethics experts say is legally required.

Crow isn’t a “law guy” and could only name two past Supreme Court cases to the Atlantic—1954’s Brown v. Board of Education and 1803’s Marbury v. Madison—claiming, “It would be absurd to me to talk to Justice Thomas about Supreme Court cases, because that’s not my world.”

The two friends “talk about life” and “the kind of things friends talk about,” Crow said, claiming that while “it’s not realistic [for] two people [to] be friends and not talk about their jobs from time to time,” Thomas’ work discussions involve his fondness for law clerks and running into Justice Stephen Breyer at Target.

Discussing Supreme Court cases with Thomas is “off limits,” Crow said, adding, “He and I don’t go there.”

Crow defended buying real estate from Thomas in Savannah, Georgia, including the house where Thomas’ mother still lives—a controversy that “seemed to baffle Crow completely,” the Atlantic notes—saying “it was a fair-market transaction, and I had a purpose” and he “[doesn’t] see the foot fault.”

He also defended his travel and hospitality with Thomas as just being part of his “lifestyle” of liking to travel with friends and host them at his “really big house,” telling the Atlantic, “That’s the life I’ve lived” and he doesn’t “think there’s anything bad about it” or see the need to exclude Thomas from his hospitality.

Crucial Quote

“I do believe that I’m on the right side of right, morally and legally,” Crow told the Atlantic about his friendship with Thomas, saying it was “kind of weird to think that if you’re a justice on the Supreme Court, you can’t have friends. That’s not healthy. Should I have changed my life in order to have these friends? Or should I behave differently around them because of who they are?”

What To Watch For

The Senate Finance and Judiciary Committees have called on Crow to provide a full accounting of his gifts to Thomas, and the Senate Judiciary Committee has also asked companies that helped to facilitate Thomas’ travel about other guests traveling with him and Crow at the same time. The Judiciary Committee has asked Crow to respond by Monday, and Crow’s attorney responded to the Finance Committee’s letter but refused to provide the information it asked for, claiming the committee did not have a sufficient basis to investigate the matter. Committee chair Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) sent a follow-up to that letter reiterating the need for information and the committee’s basis for asking for it, with responses due by June 2. Senators have not ruled out the possibility that Crow could be subpoenaed for information if he declines to provide it voluntarily, with Judiciary chair Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) telling CNN earlier in May that “everything is on the table” in terms of the committee’s response.

Surprising Fact

Crow described himself to the Atlantic as being “center right” and in favor of legal access to abortion, even as the real estate magnate is known as a GOP megadonor and as Thomas voted in favor last year of overturning Roe v. Wade. He also denounced former President Donald Trump in his interview with the publication, saying he had diagnosed himself with “Trump Derangement Syndrome” and had to stop himself from going on an “anti-Trump jihad” during the interview.

Key Background

Thomas’ relationship with Crow has come under heavy scrutiny since ProPublica first reported in early April that Thomas has spent decades enjoying free travel at Crow’s expense—including stays at his resort and trips on Crow’s private jet and superyacht—without disclosing it as experts say federal law requires. The publication then followed up with the reports on Crow’s real estate and tuition deals with Thomas, adding to existing controversy over Thomas’ potential ethics issues after the justice had already come under fire for his wife Ginni Thomas’ right-wing activism. Thomas and Crow’s friendship has ramped up calls from Democrats for Supreme Court justices to be bound by a code of ethics as lower court judges are—and led to pressure for Thomas to resign—prompting pushback from Republican lawmakers who have accused Democrats of waging a partisan campaign against conservative justices because they don’t like their rulings. Crow’s interview with the Atlantic marked his first candid remarks on the controversy over his friendship with Thomas, after the magnate and his office had previously only defended the financial transactions in statements to ProPublica. Thomas has also defended his friendship with Crow and the hospitality the justice has received, saying in an April statement he was “advised that this sort of personal hospitality from close personal friends, who did not have business before the Court, was not reportable” on financial disclosures.