美国国家公共电台 NPR--Propublica finds more ties between Justice Thomas and billionaire Harlan Crow

Propublica finds more ties between Justice Thomas and billionaire Harlan Crow

Transcript¹

NPR's A Martinez talks to ProPublica reporter Justin Elliott about more of the financial connections found between Supreme² Court Justice Clarence Thomas and wealthy GOP donor³ Harlan Crow.

A MART?NEZ, HOST:

The reporters who first told us about the ties between Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and a wealthy Republican donor have discovered another connection between Thomas and Harlan Crow. ProPublica reports the man that Justice Thomas has described in the past as a friend not only paid for luxury vacations for Thomas and his wife, but he also paid private school tuition for a relative that Thomas considers his son.

Joining us now is ProPublica reporter Justin Elliott, who's on the investigative team that's breaking this story this morning. Justin, tell us more about this additional connection you found.

JUSTIN ELLIOTT: What we found is that this billionaire Republican donor, Harlan Crow, actually paid the boarding school tuition for Justice Thomas' grand-nephew. This wasn't a distant relative. Justice Thomas actually took legal custody⁴ of his nephew when he was 6 years old and raised him for his whole childhood as a son. And Crow actually paid his school tuition.

MART?NEZ: And how much are we talking about?

ELLIOTT: So we don't have the precise number, in part because Justice Thomas and Crow didn't respond to our questions about that, but many thousands of dollars, potentially in excess of $150,000 in total, for this boarding school tuition at two different schools.

MART?NEZ: And so you mentioned how Justice Thomas describes his relationship as a son. Who benefited from the private school education?

ELLIOTT: Well, clearly, Justice Thomas benefited from this, I think, as I'm sure a lot of people listening have been in the experience of having to pay tuition of one kind or another. And if some - if a billionaire steps in and pays that for you, it's clearly to your benefit.

You know, I think the larger picture here that we've been learning about is Crow has really been funding the life of a Supreme Court justice and his family. So it's not just this tuition. It's lavish⁵ vacations he's provided for Justice Thomas for more than 20 years. We also reported that Crow purchased real estate from Justice Thomas and currently owns the house where Justice Thomas' mother lives - apparently⁶, not charging her rent. So, you know, we talked to several ethics⁷ lawyers who said they'd really never seen anything like this. A retired⁸ federal judge told us that he wouldn't even let a lawyer buy him lunch, so this is totally outside the norm for this world.

MART?NEZ: Justin, what is the running total - or at least an estimate on the running total so far?

ELLIOTT: You know, we'd love to have that number. It's hard because we don't have all the financial records that we wish we had. But, you know, at this point, it's safe to say we're talking hundreds and hundreds of thousands of dollars. I mean, some of the trips that we previously⁹ reported on involving private jet travel and Harlan Crow's superyacht - single trips that would cost, you know, in excess of $500,000 if Justice Thomas had chartered those vehicles himself. So this is a very large amount of money that's been flowing over the years.

MART?NEZ: And how normal is this?

ELLIOTT: You know, we haven't - we certainly have not seen anything like this with any current member of the Supreme Court, although we're reporting on the whole court. We've talked to a number of current and retired federal judges who said that even if the law may allow accepting these sorts of gifts, generally, judges, you know, are extremely careful about accepting gifts. And we've talked to multiple judges who said they wouldn't let people purchase them meals.

The other aspect of this is that Justice Thomas hasn't been disclosing any of it. There's a law that requires justices and other officials to disclose gifts over a few hundred dollars, and he's repeatedly failed to disclose these gifts from Crow, including these tuition payments we're reporting on today.

MART?NEZ: And just one more thing, Justin - any response from Justice Thomas or from Crow?

ELLIOTT: So Justice Thomas previously told us that he was close friends with Crow. He didn't respond for this story. Crow did send us a general statement for this story, saying that he supported many young Americans at a variety of schools. And he also said that Justice Thomas did not ask him to pay for this tuition.

MART?NEZ: OK. ProPublica reporter Justin Elliott. Justin, thanks.

ELLIOTT: Thanks a lot.

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 supreme   

adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的

参考例句：

• It was the supreme moment in his life.那是他一生中最重要的时刻。
• He handed up the indictment to the supreme court.他把起诉书送交最高法院。

3 donor   

n.捐献者；赠送人；(组织、器官等的)供体

参考例句：

• In these cases,the recipient usually takes care of the donor afterwards.在这类情况下，接受捐献者以后通常会照顾捐赠者。
• The Doctor transplanted the donor's heart to Mike's chest cavity.医生将捐赠者的心脏移植进麦克的胸腔。

4 custody   

n.监护，照看，羁押，拘留

参考例句：

• He spent a week in custody on remand awaiting sentence.等候判决期间他被还押候审一个星期。
• He was taken into custody immediately after the robbery.抢劫案发生后，他立即被押了起来。

5 lavish   

adj.无节制的；浪费的；vt.慷慨地给予，挥霍

参考例句：

• He despised people who were lavish with their praises.他看不起那些阿谀奉承的人。
• The sets and costumes are lavish.布景和服装极尽奢华。

6 apparently   

adv.显然地；表面上，似乎

参考例句：

• An apparently blind alley leads suddenly into an open space.山穷水尽，豁然开朗。
• He was apparently much surprised at the news.他对那个消息显然感到十分惊异。

7 ethics   

n.伦理学；伦理观，道德标准

参考例句：

• The ethics of his profession don't permit him to do that.他的职业道德不允许他那样做。
• Personal ethics and professional ethics sometimes conflict.个人道德和职业道德有时会相互抵触。

8 retired   

adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的

参考例句：

• The old man retired to the country for rest.这位老人下乡休息去了。
• Many retired people take up gardening as a hobby.许多退休的人都以从事园艺为嗜好。

9 previously   

adv.以前，先前（地）

参考例句：

• The bicycle tyre blew out at a previously damaged point.自行车胎在以前损坏过的地方又爆开了。
• Let me digress for a moment and explain what had happened previously.让我岔开一会儿，解释原先发生了什么。