Alito, Thomas release financial disclosure statements after extensions, amid justice ethics concerns

Supreme Court Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito on Thursday released their required, annual financial disclosure statements – amid increasing public concern about the potential influence of gifts and travel from wealth friends and other questionable activities. 

Justices file their financial forms each spring, with most being released in early June. But Alito and Thomas requested 90-day extensions, according to the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, and as reported by The New York Times. 

Thomas in his statement acknowledged having taken three trips last year in which the flights were aboard a private plane owned by GOP mega-donor Harlan Crow.

He said one was flight was after being advised following the the high-court's 2022 decision on abortion not to fly commercial.

The 75-year-old justice also said he was complying with new guidelines from the federal judiciary for reporting travel, according to the Associated Press.

Alito acknowledged in June having taken a private plane on a vacation in 2008 to an Alaskan fishing lodge, where he was hosted by Paul Singer, a hedge fund billionaire who in ensuing years had business before the high court, The Times also reports. 

Each have said the gifts and travels did not need to be reported.

In July, the wire service reported Justice Sonya Sotomayor’s staff had often prodded such public institutions as colleges and libraries that had hosted the justice to buy her memoir or children’s books, works that have earned her at least $3.7 million since she joined the court in 2009.