(PartiallyPolitics.com) – Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas has requested an extension for filing his annual financial disclosures following the recent ProPublica publications which specifically targeted the trips he had accepted from a Republican mega donor without disclosing them for decades.
On Wednesday afternoon, the high court’s 2022 disclosures were released to the public, however justices were allowed to request a 90-day extension for filing. Thomas along with fellow conservative Justice Samuel Alito requested for the additional extension.
As part of the annual disclosures, each Justice needs to specifically write down all their investment holdings, reimbursements and gifts. This is going to be the first disclosure that Thomas will have filed after it was revealed that he had been accepting luxury trips undisclosed from Harlan Crow for years.
Crow has repeatedly denied having an influence over the justice, while Thomas has claimed that he was previously informed that these trips would be considered personal hospitality and thus they would be exempt from disclosures.
In March, the federal judiciary’s policymaking arm issued a clarification on the guidance, noting that there was a change in the guidelines. In April, Thomas had stated that this change in the guidelines was the reason he needed additional time for submitting his financial disclosures as he wanted to follow the guidelines.
The ProPublica report resulted in a lot of criticism being thrown at the Supreme Court Justices both by the Democrats and by judicial watchdog groups. There has also been a general push for the high court to be obliged to adopt a new code of ethics.
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