U.S. Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii) is among a group of Democratic leaders who want Chief Justice John Roberts to investigate a report that Justice Clarence Thomas neglected to disclose 20 years of extravagant gifts and travel from notable Republican donor Harlan Crow.
Hirono, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, joined all of the Senate Judiciary Committee Democrats, in sending a letter to Roberts requesting the investigation.
In the letter, the senators said the Senate Judiciary Committee will hold a hearing on the need to restore confidence in the Supreme Court’s ethical standards. A press release from Hirono’s office said the letter notes that Judiciary Committee Democrats previously wrote Roberts in 2012 asking the Court adopt a resolution binding the justices to the same Code of Conduct that binds all other federal judges, but he refused.
The letter points out Chief Justice Roberts doesn’t need to wait for Congress to act to ensure Justices abide by ethical standards that bind other federal judges. It warns that if the Chief Justice fails to address the matter, the Committee will take up legislation to resolve it.
The senators wrote, per release, “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. 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. We urge you to immediately open such an investigation and take all needed action to prevent further misconduct.”
This 2012 letter, according to the press release, was sent following public reports of Thomas’s acceptance of favors from Crow, conduct that escalated after the Court’s refusal to act.
“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,” the letter said. “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.”
The letter continued: “In the coming days, the Senate Judiciary Committee will hold a hearing regarding the need to restore confidence in the Supreme Court’s ethical standards. And if the Court does not resolve this issue on its own, the Committee will consider legislation to resolve it. But 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.”
The letter was signed by Hirono, U.S. Sens. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Chris Coons (D-Del.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.), and Peter Welch (D-Vt.).