Politics

WASHINGTON, Aug 31 (Reuters) - U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas accepted flights by private jet last year and cited security concerns around the court's controversial abortion decision to justify some of the private travel, according to a disclosure form released on Thursday.

Thomas listed 2022 private jet trips provided by Texas businessman Harlan Crow to or from Dallas, Texas, for conferences in February and May, and to a property in upstate New York's Adirondack Mountains in July, the delayed filing showed.

Thomas has faced scrutiny following revelations that he had not disclosed luxury trips paid for by the wealthy benefactor.

He said in the document that he chose to fly by private plane in May 2022 because his "security detail recommended noncommercial travel whenever possible" due to the "increased security risk" following the leak that month of an opinion indicating that the court would overturn the constitutional right to abortion.

The following month, Thomas and other members of the court's conservative majority overturned the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling that had legalized abortion nationwide, in a decision that largely tracked the leaked version.

The disclosure forms filed by Thomas and fellow conservative Justice Samuel Alito come two months after the court's other seven justices' disclosures were released in June.