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WASHINGTON — Utah Sen. Mike Lee has repeatedly taken to Twitter to defend Clarence Thomas, calling the embattled U.S. Supreme Court justice a "hero who did nothing wrong" over the weekend.
Thomas has been at the center of a national discussion around Supreme Court ethics, after ProPublica reported that the justice failed to report receiving lavish trips from Texas billionaire Harlan Crow — a conservative megadonor — for more than two decades.
Legal experts told ProPublica Thomas should have disclosed the trips, under a law passed after Watergate that requires justices, judges, members of Congress and federal officials to disclose most gifts they receive. In a statement, Crow said he'd extended "hospitality" to Thomas and his wife, but the justice never asked for it and it was "no different from the hospitality we have extended to our many other dear friends."
Crow called the trips "gatherings of friends," and said he's "unaware of any of our friends ever lobbying or seeking to influence Justice Thomas on any case."
Lee, a Republican, defended Thomas on his personal Twitter account Sunday, shortly after a second ProPublica story was published detailing Thomas' undisclosed sale of real estate to Crow in 2014.
"Clarence Thomas is a hero who did nothing wrong," Lee said in response to a tweet from a conservative candidate for attorney general in Missouri.
On April 7, a day after ProPublica's initial reporting, Lee used his official Twitter account to condemn what he described as a "blatant partisan attack."
"The recent disgusting attempt to discredit Justice Clarence Thomas is yet another inexcusable and blatant partisan attack, designed only to mislead the public and smear an honorable man," the senator tweeted. "Justice Thomas is a brilliant jurist who has served the American people with distinction, tirelessly defending our Constitution. The repeated attacks in him and his wife, Ginni, are utterly shameful. Justice Thomas' accomplishments and legacy should be celebrated and cherished, not maliciously attacked."
Lee himself has received campaign contributions from Crow, according to mandatory federal campaign filings. Crow donated $8,700 to Lee's political action committee for Lee's primary reelection campaign in 2022 and $8,100 for Lee's 2016 campaign, according to Federal Election Commission reports.
Crow also co-founded the Club for Growth, a conservative organization whose political action committee was the largest individual donor to Lee's 2022 campaign, per opensecrets.org, and spent more than $8 million on ads supporting Lee, along with its affiliate Crypto Freedom PAC.
Several other Utahns have received campaign contributions from Crow, including late GOP Sen. Orrin Hatch's Senate campaigns in 1994 and 2012, former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman's unsuccessful presidential campaign in 2011, Sen. Mitt Romney's presidential campaign in 2012 and Senate campaign in 2018 and former Democratic Rep. Ben McAdams' reelection campaign in 2020.
