Friend of Justice Thomas defends nondisclosure of tuition payments.

Justice Clarence Thomas did not disclose that a Republican donor from Texas, Harlan Crow, paid for two years of private-school tuition for his great-nephew, according to a statement by Thomas's friend and former official for the Trump administration, Mark Paoletta. Paoletta argued that Thomas was not required to report the tuition, but ethics law experts rejected that argument and said Crow's gift was to Thomas himself, not the great-nephew, so it was clearly reportable. The recent disclosures around Justice Thomas have prompted lawmakers to propose enacting a new law that would impose a tighter ethics code on the Supreme Court.