Also, a deadly fire in Johannesburg. Here’s the latest at the end of Thursday.
In an unusual move, Justice Clarence Thomas attached to his annual financial disclosure form released today a response to reports that he had failed to disclose luxury trips, flights on a private jet and a real estate transaction with a Texas billionaire who has donated to conservative causes.
In his disclosure, Thomas addressed his decision to fly on a private jet belonging to the billionaire, Harlan Crow. Thomas said that he had been advised to avoid commercial travel after the leak of the draft opinion overturning Roe v. Wade and eliminating a constitutional right to an abortion.
Thomas also defended his past filings, which did not include many of the trips with Crow and other wealthy friends, insisting that he had adhered to all judicial regulations.
This year, the justices have faced increased scrutiny about their financial dealings and about the court’s lack of an ethics code following a series of reports in ProPublica detailing Thomas’s decades-long close relationship with Crow. Unlike other federal judges, Supreme Court justices are not bound by formal ethics rules. Instead they follow what Chief Justice John Roberts has referred to as “ethics principles and practices.”
Another justice, Samuel Alito, has come under recent scrutiny for using a private plane on a luxury fishing vacation with a different billionaire who later had business before the court. Alito also released his newest financial disclosure today but did not offer an explanation of his disclosures.At least 74 people were killed in a fire in Johannesburg
An early-morning blaze tore through a five-story building in Johannesburg that city officials said had become a dilapidated settlement for squatters. At least 74 people, including a dozen children, were killed in one of the deadliest residential fires in South Africa’s history.
The authorities, who are still trying to determine the cause, said that many residents had lit fires for warmth and light. The building, where electric cables dangled in corridors and trash spilled from windows, illustrated a political crisis that has resulted in a severe lack of affordable housing in the city.
My colleague Lynsey Chutel, who covers Johannesburg, described the scene: “There was a real sense of chaos,” she said. “You could see people sitting on the sidewalk looking confused, looking helpless.”A Proud Boys leader was sentenced to 17 years in prison
A federal judge today sentenced Joseph Biggs, a onetime lieutenant in the Proud Boys, to 17 years in prison after his conviction on charges of seditious conspiracy for plotting to attack the Capitol and disrupt the peaceful transfer of presidential power on Jan.
