When news broke that Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas enjoyed hundreds of thousands of dollars in luxury vacations, private yacht and jet travel, proceeds from the sale of his ancestral home, and numerous other gifts from billionaire real estate magnate Harlan Crow, the justice proclaimed that he had done nothing wrong by arguing, among other things, that Crow did not have business before the Court.

It is true that Crow, who took over his father Trammell Crows business Crow Holdings Inc. in 1988, has not himself been a party in a case before the Supreme Court. But that doesnt mean his financial interests as a real estate owner, landlord and commercial, residential and industrial developer havent come before the Supreme Court over the course of Thomas 31-year tenure.

Those interests can be seen in a series of cases related to racial discrimination in housing, the Clean Water Act and rent control that either have come or are expected to come before the court soon. A trade group that is currently chaired by Ken Valach, who took over as CEO of Crow Holdings Inc. from Crow in 2015, filed a series of friend-of-the-court, or amicus, briefs in those cases, according to research from Accountable.US, a progressive organization.

The National Multifamily Housing Council, where Valach was named chair in 2022, is a trade association that advocates on behalf of more than 1,000 large rental apartment owners. Three of Crows companies are among its dues-paying members, with Crow executives participating on the board of directors, executive committee and advisory committee. Prior to becoming chair of the trade group, Valach sat on its board of directors, beginning in 2015, as secretary and then treasurer.

In 2016, Crow hosted emerging leaders from the council at his East Texas ranch, where Valach spoke about their industry and held a discussion about conservatism.

The briefs filed by the council add to the list of amicus briefs submitted to the court by groups connected to Crow. The American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think tank where Crow sits on the board of trustees, has filed three briefs in cases that have come before Thomas. In 2003, the Club for Growth, a political group founded by free-market financial executives, joined a brief challenging the McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform law . At the time, Crow was on the groups founders committee.

Crows business interests also came directly before the court in 2005 when the justices declined to hear an appeal in a lawsuit alleging that Crows company had improperly used building designs made by an architectural firm, according to Bloomberg .