Senate Democrats Urge John Roberts To Probe Clarence Thomas’ Undisclosed Gifts

Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee on Monday urged Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts to investigate a recent bombshell report that Justice Clarence Thomas has accepted and failed to disclose 20 years’ worth of lavish gifts and luxury travel from a billionaire GOP megadonor.

The ProPublica report, published last week, describes conduct by Thomas “that is plainly inconsistent with the ethical standards the American people expect of any person in a position of public trust,” reads a letter to Roberts signed by all 11 Democrats on the panel.

“The Senate Judiciary Committee, which has legislative jurisdiction over Federal courts and judges, has a role to play in ensuring that the nation’s highest court does not have the federal judiciary’s lowest ethical standards,” said the Democrats. “You have a role to play as well, both in investigating how such conduct could take place at the Court under your watch, and in ensuring that such conduct does not happen again.”

They add, “We urge you to immediately open such an investigation and take all needed action to prevent further misconduct.”

Here’s a copy of their letter:

Democrats have been tepid in their response to Thomas’ reported behavior. Apart from Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) calling for Thomas to be impeached, most have simply called for an enforceable code of ethics for the high court without proposing any kind of immediate plan for making this happen.

Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), a member of the Judiciary Committee, has proposed something specific. He’s called for a committee hearing and vote on his bill, the Supreme Court Ethics, Recusal, and Transparency Act. It would create a process for investigating misconduct at the court and require the court to adopt disclosure rules for gifts, travel and income that are at least as rigorous as ethics rules for members of Congress.

“This Supreme Court has lost its ethical compass,” Whitehouse, who chairs the Senate Judiciary’s subcommittee on court oversight, said in a statement. “It’s no wonder that the American people are losing faith in the idea that they can get a fair shake before the nation’s highest court when they see a Supreme Court justice openly flouting basic disclosure rules in order to pal around with billionaires in secret.”

In Senate Democrats’ letter, they chide Roberts for ignoring their previous concerns about the Supreme Court’s lack of ethical standards. They note that The New York Times reported more than 10 years ago that people had been raising questions about Thomas’ acceptance of favors from Harlan Crow, the GOP megadonor at the center of ProPublica’s new report.

“It is troubling that your 2011 year-end report, which dismissed the call for the Justices to adopt the Code of Conduct, was written notwithstanding the known concerns about Mr. Crow’s largesse,” reads the letter to Roberts. “This problem could have been resolved then. Instead, according to ProPublica’s reporting, Mr. Crow’s dispensation of favors escalated in secret during the years that followed. Now the Court faces a crisis of public confidence in its ethical standards that must be addressed.”

Democrats say they plan to hold a committee hearing of their own in the coming days on the need to restore confidence in the Supreme Court’s ethical standards. They don’t give details on what that will entail, but they say if Roberts doesn’t resolve the court’s ethical problems, the senators will take up legislation to try to resolve them.

“You do not need to wait for Congress to act to undertake your own investigation into the reported conduct and to ensure that it cannot happen again,” said the Democrats. “We urge you to do so.”