then the third is wayne huizenga. he might be more of a household name.the billionaire behind blockbuster, waste management, and for a time he owned three florida sports teams, the panthers, miami dolphins, and i am blanking on the third. but he owned three teams at the same time. and because have wayne huizenga, david sokol, tony novelly, and harlan crow. did any of mega donors have cases before the supreme court? we know harlan crow did. >> what they have had our different petitions. tony novelly did at some point in a case he was involved in was being appealed to the supreme court. however, when exactly that took place in relation to his relationship his vacations with justice thomas, it seemed that actually happened -- that case happened before their friendship turned into a vacation relationship. what each of them had is a stake in court cases because of the industry they are in. so anything to do with regulated industries, tax law, tax decisions, environmental decisions -- all of these could bear major impact on the industries in which they work. so

and members only golf club -- it also used to be long to billionaire wayne huizenga and, he didn't charge of its 200 plus members were just invited by huizenga to eat and play and relax for free. the club has since been sold and now charges $150,000 just as the initiation fee. justice thomas has been spotted there multiple times. now, the supreme court effectively polices itself nondisclosure for stuff like this and propublica's up front that not all of the hospitality they report on here may have required disclosure. all the wealthy benefactors involve say that this hospitality should not be judged so harshly because they are thomas's friends. propublica has not identified any legal cases these wealthy benefactors had before the court of the time they were winding and dining and flying injustice all over the place. nbc news reached out to justice thomas for comment this morning but we've not yet heard back. in a statement replying to previous reporting, just as thomas said that he had been advised this sort of personal hospitality from close personal friends who did not have business bef

. >> reporter: now the list of benefactors includes three more names, david soakle, wayne huizenga andony novelly. the four collectively treated thomas to 38 destination vacations, including a previously unreported voyage on a yacht around the bahamas. 26 private jet flights, plus an additional eight by helicopter. a dozen vip passes to professional and college sporting events, two stays at luxury resorts in florida and jamaica, and one standing invitation to an uber exclusive golf club. the dollar value likely in the millions, little of which appeared in required financial disclosures according to propublica. thomas has previously said he didn't feel the need to disclose some gifts, and that worries jeremy fogel, an expert on judicial ethics and a former judge. >> i simply couldn't have done this. and even if the people involved didn't have interest before the court, it's just the idea that you are receiving gifts of this magnitude. >> reporter: associate justices make about $285,000 a year. in 2001, when they made about $100,000 less, thomas spoke up. >> the job is not worth doing fo

>> i would say the 737, wayne huizenga billionaire passed away in 2018, behind blockbuster, waste management empire builder, he had a fleet of aircraft, private hangar outside of fort lauderdale airport, and at least twice, we heard, he would send one of his 737s, he had two, to pick up justice thomas and deliver him to florida. >> we ain't talking about a puddle jumper, a 737. >> it was just thomas in the plane, according to the flight attendant who's on board. it was just the two of them talking on the trip to florida. >> we have seen democrat speak out saying they want an investigation but the end of the day, do you see any actual will, to change the rules? we talk about congressional stock trading, are we gonna change the rules, i've yet to see anyone bring anything to a vote. do you see something that could go to the floor of congress to change the ethic rules, the way the supreme court can behave? >> they did put legislative on the books, they are not positive it's gonna go very, far the filibuster. there's been a lot of talk about ethics reform broadly. this idea of a code of conduct.

now we're learning about others like wayne huizenga, and tony novelly, an oil barren.uddy with hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of gifts, private jet lifts, and vacations. according to propublica, which cited flight data, security detail records, tax court filings, interviews with more than 100 eyewitnesses and a host of other information, thomas received at least 38 destination vacations including a previously unreported voyage on a yacht around the bahamas, 26 private jet flights, plus an additional eight by helicopter, a dozen vip pazes to professional and college sporting events, et cetera, et cetera, and by the way, he was typically perched in the sky box for those. two stays at luxury resorts in florida and jamaica, and one standing invitation to an exclusive golf club overlooking the atlantic coast. none of the names of the newly reported boosters appeared in financial disclosures. while he hasn't appeared to break laws by failing to report his stays in friends' homes experts say it look like it may have violated the law by failing to disclose the flights,

the late h wayne huizenga, a florida billionaire, paul tony novelly, a little oil baron.ation of the law, according to ethics experts. joining me now is jeremy fogel, executive director of the berkeley judicial institute at the university of california berkeley and a former u.s. district judge for the northern district of california. judge fogle, great to have you with us. thank you for your time. as a former federal judge, would you have been able to keep your job if you engaged in conduct like clarence thomas? >> well, let me say this -- there are two different regulatory schemes here, one of them is the ethics and government act, which is the one that requires the reporting, and the other is the code of conduct for the united states judges, which applies to all federal judges except for the justice, justice of the supreme court. to answer your question, i would not have been able to do this. on a number of levels. one is, i doubt, and i really don't know, time will tell -- but i doubt all of the gifts in question here were not reported. and the other point said under t

the late h wayne huizenga a florida billionaire, paul tony novelly, a literal oil baron.ses financial exposures, which could be a violation of the law. according to ethics experts. joining me now, -- as a former federal judge, would you have unable to keep your job if you keep engage in conduct like clarence thomas. >> let me say this. there are two different regulatory schemes here, one of them is the ethics and government act, which is the one that requires that reporting. and the other is the code of conduct for united states judges, which applies to all federal judges, except for the justices of the supreme court. to answer your question, i would not have been able to do this on a number of levels. one, i doubt and i really don't know that time will tell, but i doubt that all of the gifts in question here were not reportable. and the other point i would make is that under the candidates that apply to all the other judges in the country, both state and federal -- the volume of the gifts would create a problem of an appearance undue influence -- people are entitled, jud