Supreme Court Justice Dismisses Gifts Reports As Lies.

US Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, who has found himself under scrutiny over his judicial decisions and accepting lavish gifts from a billionaire Republican, is dismissing the criticism as nastiness and lies.

Staunch conservative Thomas, the longest-serving justice on the court, has been embroiled in controversy since it emerged last year that he had gone on a trip paid for by Republican donor and real estate tycoon Harlan Crow.

The justice has also faced calls to recuse himself from cases related to the 2020 election because of his wife’s involvement with efforts to block Joe Biden’s victory.

Thomas stressed that he and his wife try to ignore their critics and focus on the positive.

According to a ProPublica investigation published last year, 75-year-old Thomas went on one trip to Indonesia paid for by Crow that alone was likely worth $500,000.

He also joined Crow — whose friendship with the justice the New York Times in 2011 called “unusual and ethically sensitive” — for trips to an exclusive all-male wilderness resort in California and to properties in Texas and New York State over the past two decades.