Continuing its push to get the Supreme Court to adopt more stringent ethical standards, the Senate Judiciary Committee wrote to billionaire Harlan Crow on Monday, asking him to account for the gifts to Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas or any other justice.
Joined by 10 other committee Democrats, Judiciary Committee Chair Dick Durbin, D-Ill., asked Crow to provide an itemized list of gifts worth more than $415 to any justice or any justice's family member, as well as real estate transactions, private club admission, transportation, and lodging, The Washington Post reported.
The letter comes after nonprofit ProPublica revealed last month that Crow, a major Republican donor, invited Thomas on multiple vacations, which were not disclosed by the justice. The Post reported that Crow also bought the house Thomas' mother lives in and paid for private school tuition for his grandnephew.
Crow has said he never attempted to sway Thomas' decision-making on the court.
"I think it's a political hit job," Crow told the Dallas Morning News in April. "I don't think the media cares really much about Harlan Crow, and I think they're right. They shouldn't care much about Harlan Crow.
"But I think that the media, and this ProPublica group, in particular, funded by leftists, has an agenda to destabilize the [Supreme] Court. What they've done is not truthful. It lacks integrity.
"They've done a pretty good job in the last week or two of unfairly slamming me and, more importantly than that, unfairly slamming Justice Thomas."
Thomas has said he believed he followed the high court's disclosure rules for gifts.
The Post reported that the Judiciary Committee also sent letters Monday to three companies linked to the private resort, private jet, and superyacht associated with Crow's travels. The senators asked the companies to provide a list of other guests whose travel coincided with Thomas' or any other justice.
While Supreme Court justices are required to disclose gifts of more than $415, the rules governing gifts involving personal hospitality were more vague. The court's policymaking body, the Judicial Conference, changed the rules recently to require that justices and other federal judges disclose more details about gifts and clarified that things like private jet travel must be reported.
"Regardless of the intentions behind these stays, if these gifts to Justice Thomas enabled those with interests before the Court to have private access to a Justice, it is a matter of significant public concern," the senators wrote.
The letter was reportedly signed by all 11 of the committee's Democrats, including Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., who has been absent for months due to health reasons. The Post reported that none of the committee's Republicans joined.