Senate Democrats Ask Crow to Detail His Gifts to Justice Thomas

(Bloomberg) -- Democratic members of the Senate Judiciary Committee have asked Harlan Crow, a billionaire Republican donor, to lay out in detail any gifts or payments made to Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and his family, as a battle over the high court’s ethics intensifies.

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Judiciary Committee Chair Dick Durbin and the 10 other Democrats on the panel asked the Texas real estate magnate to disclose any items of value, pointing out that many divulged in recent news reports had not been disclosed by Thomas.

The senators’ request includes an itemized list of any items of value exceeding $415 given by Crow or entities he owns or controls to any of the nine Supreme Court justices or any real estate transactions that benefit them.

“As part of the Senate Judiciary Committee’s ongoing efforts to craft legislation strengthening the ethical rules and standards that apply to the justices of the Supreme Court, we request that you provide the committee with certain information by May 22, 2023,” they said in a letter.

The letter marks a turning point as Democrats who control the chamber and who have subpoena powers try to hold to account a high court that has shown no interest in adopting a code of ethics.

Senate Finance Committee Chair Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat, last week also called on Crow for an accounting of the gifts.

ProPublica, a nonprofit investigative news organization, reported last month that Thomas failed to disclose luxurious trips including travel on private planes and to resorts over two decades that were never disclosed and paid for by Crow, who has donated millions to conservative causes.

ProPublica also reported that Crow bought three Georgia properties, including the home where Thomas’s mother resides, from the justice and his relatives, and also paid private school tuition for a Thomas grandnephew.

Thomas has denied any wrongdoing in accepting travel from Crow, and has said he sought ethics guidance from colleagues and others in the judiciary early in his 32-year tenure on the Supreme Court. He said he was “advised that this sort of personal hospitality from close personal friends, who did not have business before the court, was not reportable.”

Congressional Democrats have pushed for a new ethics code despite steep resistance from Republicans. The Supreme Court is not subject to the same ethics rules applied to other federal judges.

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