Justice Clarence Thomas defends 'family trips' with GOP donor

Thomas said he “was advised that this sort of personal hospitality from close personal friends, who did not have business before the Court, was not reportable.”

Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas on Friday defended the “family trips” he accepted from a Republican megadonor but did not disclose in his first statement since ProPublica published a report Thursday detailing the years of luxury vacations he went on.

“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,” Thomas said in the statement. “I have endeavored to follow that counsel throughout my tenure, and have always sought to comply with the disclosure guidelines.”

Thomas said he has joined megadonors Harlan and Kathy Crow “on a number of family trips during the more than quarter century we have known them.”

He also pointed to recent changes to the disclosure guidelines, adding: “And, it is, of course, my intent to follow this guidance in the future.”