Supreme Court Clarence Thomas appears to have more than one Texan billionaire benefactor.
In addition to real estate developer Harlan Crow, Dallas Cowboys owner — and some say NFL shadow commissioner — Jerry Jones has also been connected with the conservative justice, the New York Times reported.
Thomas and Crow cruised the world together for nearly 30 years, according to reporting by ProPublica. But Thomas did not disclose rides aboard the Bombardier Global 5000 private jet or the 162-foot superyacht. He also didn’t disclose the trips to Bohemian Grove, the volcanic archipelago in Indonesia or the private resort in the Adirondacks. Thomas didn’t pay for them, either.
The justice has also flown on Jones’s private jet, received a Super Bowl ring from Jones, and sat on the owner’s box when the Cowboys — Thomas’ favorite football team — played the Washington Football Club, the Times reported.
Both Jones and Thomas are members of the Horatio Alger Association of Distinguished Americans, a pull-yourself-up-by-the-bootstraps group that is composed of wealthy individuals. Jones joined in 2014, Thomas in 1993.
The Supreme Court doesn’t have a stringent code of ethics, but revelations about Thomas receiving such generous gifts, among other things, have led legislators to call for establishing one. There have been no claims of Jones’ business being in front of the Supreme Court, though the Times noted it’s also difficult to determine if there were any conflicts of interest.
Meanwhile, in addition to the Cowboys, Jones is also owner of investment and development firm Blue Star Land, which recently started construction on a 638,000-square-foot industrial center at a 120-acre site in Waxahachie.
Blue Star Land is best known for the Dallas Cowboys’ $1.5 billion Star development in Frisco but has been busy with investment and development projects across Dallas-Fort Worth. The company is entrenched north of Dallas in Prosper with the 500-acre Gates of Prosper project, which will be the largest mixed-use development in the suburb. The firm is also planning 500 apartments, retail and a park at another Prosper site.
Blue Star has been active in the industrial market as well. The firm sold off three industrial properties at the Star Business Park late last year to Lincoln Property Company, and it has other warehouse developments planned across Collin and Denton counties.
— Ted Glanzer