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senate judiciary committee
Senate Dems Seek Special Counsel to Investigate Clarence Thomas and Billionaire Benefactors
"The evidence assembled thus far plainly suggests that Justice Thomas has committed numerous willful violations of federal ethics."
Jul 09, 2024
Stepping up efforts to hold U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas accountable for alleged ethics violations, two Democratic senators on Tuesday announced they'd requested that the Biden administration appoint a special counsel to investigate the right-wing judge.
Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), who chairs a Senate Judiciary subcommittee on the federal courts and oversight, was joined by and Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) in writing to Attorney General Merrick Garland, warning that extensive reporting has pointed to possible violations of the Ethics in Government Act by Thomas.
While the senators' committees have presented Thomas with opportunities to explain his failure to disclose a significant forgiven debt and several financial gifts he received from wealthy benefactors, the justice "has maintained a suspicious silence," said Whitehouse and Wyden.
"The evidence assembled thus far plainly suggests that Justice Thomas has committed numerous willful violations of federal ethics and false-statement laws and raises significant questions about whether he and his wealthy benefactors have complied with their federal tax obligations," wrote the senators. "No government official should be above the law. Supreme Court justices are properly expected to obey laws designed to prevent conflicts of interest and the appearance of impropriety and to comply with the federal tax code."
"We therefore request that you appoint a special counsel authorized to investigate potential criminal violations by Justice Thomas," they added.
The senators cited a loan of more than $267,000 to Thomas, in connection with his purchase of a luxury motor coach. The Senate Finance Committee found that the provider of the loan, Anthony Welters, a wealthy businessman in the healthcare sector, stopped collecting principal and interest on the loan in 2008—suggesting the debt was forgiven and therefore taxable.
"The Ethics in Government Act requires justices to disclose any 'income from discharge of indebtedness,'" wrote the senators. "Justice Thomas did not report any such forgiveness as income on his financial disclosure report covering the year 2008, or for any other year."
The letter also points to numerous financial gifts Thomas received from benefactors including billionaire Harlan Crow, businessman Wayne Huizenga, and former Berkshire Hathaway executive David Sokol. The justice has reportedly received free private jet travel, lodging, tuition for his grandnephew, a country club membership, and free rent for his mother, among other gifts, "all of which Justice Thomas failed to disclose" in violation of the Ethics in Government Act.
"Justice Thomas has claimed that some omissions were 'inadvertent,' and he has amended some past reports accordingly," wrote Whitehouse and Wyden. "However, Justice Thomas has not disclosed all of the gifts that have been uncovered, and there may well be more. His long history of omissions indicates a pattern of willfulness meriting investigation under the Ethics in Government Act."
On social media, Whitehouse added that "the American people deserve a comprehensive investigation into the potential violations of ethics and tax laws by Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas."
Court reform groups and other progressives have long called for Thomas to be held accountable for multiple alleged conflicts of interest and other possible ethics violations—demanding that he recuse from cases involving former President Donald Trump due to his wife's involvement in efforts to overturn the 2020 election results and calling for a federal investigation into gifts he's received from people and groups who had business before the Supreme Court.
"It's beyond time we hold Clarence Thomas accountable for his actions," said the advocacy group End Citizens United.
The senators noted that an ethics investigation by a special counsel appointed by Garland could shed light on payments reportedly facilitated by Leonard Leo, board chair of the right-wing Federalist Society, which has pushed for the appointment of right-wing judges to the Supreme Court and other federal courts.
"Last year, The Washington Postreported that Leo directed payments of at least $25,000 to a consulting firm run by Justice Thomas's spouse, with Leo specifying that the documents related to the payments should make '[n]o mention' of Mrs. Thomas," wrote Whitehouse and Wyden. "The furtive nature of the payments raises further questions about how many such payments were orchestrated, whether legitimate services were actually rendered, and whether such payments required additional reporting by Justice Thomas."
An investigation is needed, said the senators, to uncover "the full scope of potential unlawful conduct related to any coordinated gifts program for certain justices."
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'Resign Immediately': Clarence Thomas Took Even More Secret Trips on Billionaire's Jet
"The next trip Justice Thomas takes should be into retirement. Resign," wrote one Democratic lawmaker.
Jun 14, 2024
The Senate Judiciary Committee revealed Thursday that Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas took at least three additional undisclosed trips on a private jet owned by Texas billionaire Harlan Crow, a finding that prompted yet another round of calls for the right-wing judge to step down.
New details of Thomas' luxury travel emerged from negotiations between the Senate committee—which authorized a subpoena for Crow last year—and the billionaire's attorneys.
Documents the committee obtained from Crow "revealed travel and gifts that Justice Thomas has failed to disclose to date," including a May 2017 private jet trip from St. Louis to Kalispell, Montana and a return flight to Dallas; a March 2019 private jet trip from Washington, D.C. to Savannah, Georgia and back; and a June 2021 private jet trip from Washington, D.C. to San Jose, California and back.
Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), the chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said in a statement that "nearly $4.2 million in gifts and even that wasn't enough for Justice Thomas, with at least three additional trips the committee found that he has failed to disclose to date."
"The Senate Judiciary Committee's ongoing investigation into the Supreme Court's ethical crisis is producing new information—like what we've revealed today—and makes it crystal clear that the highest court needs an enforceable code of conduct, because its members continue to choose not to meet the moment," said Durbin. "As a result of our investigation and subpoena authorization, we are providing the American public greater clarity on the extent of ethical lapses by Supreme Court justices and the need for ethics reform."
"Thomas should resign immediately and I urge all my colleagues to demand the same."
The Senate panel's revelations came days after Thomas belatedly disclosed two luxury trips funded by Crow, a megadonor to the Republican Party. Thomas claims he "inadvertently omitted" the trips when he filed an earlier disclosure form.
The judiciary committee's Supreme Court investigation was spurred by a series of reports by the investigative outlet ProPublica, which uncovered dozens of billionaire-financed vacations Thomas has taken during his three decades on the bench. Ethics experts say Thomas likely violated the law by failing to disclose private jet flights and other gifts.
"A cadre of industry titans and ultrawealthy executives have treated him to far-flung vacations aboard their yachts, ushered him into the premium suites at sporting events, and sent their private jets to fetch him—including, on more than one occasion, an entire 737," the outlet reported last August. "It's a stream of luxury that is both more extensive and from a wider circle than has been previously understood."
ProPublica also uncovered a luxury fishing vacation that Justice Samuel Alito took with hedge fund billionaire Paul Singer, who later had business before the Supreme Court.
Earlier this week, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) blocked Senate Democrats' attempt to pass legislation that would require the Supreme Court to adopt a binding code of ethics and create new recusal requirements surrounding justices' acceptance of gifts.
Following the judiciary panel's new disclosures, Democratic lawmakers reiterated their calls for Thomas to resign.
"Clarence Thomas is corrupt as hell and the corruption at the Republican Supreme Court stinks to high heaven," Rep. Bill Pascrell, Jr. (D-N.J.) wrote on social media. "Thomas should resign immediately and I urge all my colleagues to demand the same."
Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.) echoed Pascrell, writing: "The next trip Justice Thomas takes should be into retirement. Resign."
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Lindsey Graham Blocks Democrats' Attempt to Pass Supreme Court Ethics Bill
"Senate Republicans just showed how out of touch they are with what most Americans want—a Supreme Court free of corruption."
Jun 13, 2024
Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham on Wednesday blocked an attempt by Senate Democrats to pass Supreme Court reform legislation by unanimous consent, thwarting efforts to establish a binding ethics code for the nation's top court as two of its right-wing justices come under fire for taking billionaire-funded luxury vacations and flying flags associated with the January 6 insurrection.
The Democratic legislation—titled the the Supreme Court Ethics, Recusal, and Transparency (SCERT) Act—advanced out of the Senate Judiciary Committee nearly a year ago without any GOP support. The bill would give the high court 180 days to adopt a binding code of ethics and establish new recusal requirements surrounding justices' acceptance of gifts.
Supreme Court justices are currently the only federal judges in the U.S. not bound by an ethics code. Last year, under massive pressure following revelations of Justice Clarence Thomas' undisclosed luxury trips, the Supreme Court announced an ethics code with no enforcement mechanism, effectively rendering it toothless.
Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), the lead sponsor of the SCERT Act, said Wednesday that he was "not surprised" Republicans blocked the attempt to pass his bill.
"The highest court shouldn't have the lowest ethics standards," Whitehouse wrote on social media. "What's controversial about that?"
"Both Justice Thomas and Justice Alito have failed to disclose gifts they have accepted—in clear violation of financial disclosure requirements under federal law."
The chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), spearheaded Democrats' attempt Wednesday to pass the SCERT Act by unanimous consent, process under which just one objection is enough to block legislation. Given Democrats' narrow control of the Senate and the continued existence of the legislative filibuster, the bill almost certainly would have failed had it gone to a full vote.
"For more than a year, the Supreme Court has been embroiled in an ethical crisis of its own design," Durbin said in a floor speech Wednesday. "Story after story about ethical misconduct by sitting Supreme Court justices has led the news for months. For decades, however, Justice Clarence Thomas has accepted lavish gifts and luxury trips from a gaggle of fawning billionaires. The total dollar value of these gifts is in the millions. One Supreme Court justice—millions of dollars worth of gifts."
"Justice [Samuel] Alito, as well, went on a luxury fishing trip that should have cost him over $100,000—but it didn't cost him a dime, because the trip was funded by a billionaire and organized by rightwing kingpin Leonard Leo. Both Justice Thomas and Justice Alito have failed to disclose gifts they have accepted—in clear violation of financial disclosure requirements under federal law. But it isn't only this shameless conduct that has cast a dark shadow over the court. Time and again, these justices' actions have cast doubt on their impartiality in cases before the court."
Graham's obstruction of the ethics bill came as the Supreme Court is weighing a slew of high-stakes cases, including one on whether former President Donald Trump is immune from criminal prosecution.
Thomas, whose wife supported efforts to overturn the 2020 election results, and Alito, who blamed his wife for flying pro-insurrection flags at two of their homes, have both rejected calls to recuse themselves from the case.
"The Supreme Court clearly can't and won't police itself," Christina Harvey, executive director of Stand Up America, said in a statement Wednesday. "Time and again, the right-wing majority on the court has shown that it is unwilling to abide by basic rules of ethics. Passing the Supreme Court Ethics, Recusal, and Transparency Actwas an opportunity to guarantee basic ethics standards and restore some trust in the highest court in our country."
"Eighty percent of voters want Congress to pass a binding code of ethics for the Supreme Court," Harvey added. "Senate Republicans just showed how out of touch they are with what most Americans want—a Supreme Court free of corruption—when they refused to hold our Supreme Court justices accountable to the same ethical standards that apply to members of Congress and public servants across the country."
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