As the Crow flies

As this point, it is extremely unlikely that this is the last extravagant gift Thomas failed to report:

Justice Clarence Thomas failed to publicly disclose additional private travel provided by the wealthy conservative donor Harlan Crow, a top Democratic senator said in a letter on Monday.

Customs and Border Protection records revealed that the justice and his wife, Virginia Thomas, took a round trip between Hawaii and New Zealand in November 2010 on Mr. Crow’s private jet, according to the letter. Senator Ron Wyden, Democrat of Oregon, writing to Mr. Crow’s lawyer, demanded that he supply more information about the financial relationship between the two men.

The letter, part of an inquiry that Mr. Wyden, the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, has opened into Mr. Crow and the justice, comes as top Democrats have urged major changes to the Supreme Court, including an enforceable code of conduct.

Mr. Wyden said the latest revelation had only increased his misgivings about the relationship between the justice and Mr. Crow, a real estate magnate. “I am deeply concerned that Mr. Crow may have been showering a public official with extravagant gifts, then writing off those gifts to lower his tax bill,” Mr. Wyden wrote.

A luxury vacation here, an RV that’s a million bucks to drive off the lot there, and at some point you’re talking about real money. Money provided by someone with a strong interest in getting many specific outcomes as a Republican majority decides exactly how much Republican policy is “required” by the Constitution or statutes written by Congresses with very different ideological views. One would sure hate to see this kind of “judicial independence” to be restrained in any way — who will look out for the water polluters and violent prison guards then?