Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee unveiled a report on Saturday, revealing that Justice Clarence Thomas of the US Supreme Court has accepted millions of dollars in lavish gifts over his 30-year tenure without reporting them. The 20-month investigation uncovered, among other findings, a previously unreported flight to Saranac, New York, and a 2021 yacht trip to New York City, both financed by Texas billionaire Harlan Crow. Republicans on the Committee did not participate in the investigation.
Supreme Court justices and lower court judges are required to recuse themselves from cases in specific circumstances by law. There is also a statute that prohibits government officers and employees from soliciting or accepting “anything of value from a person . . . seeking official action from [or] doing business with . . . the individual’s employing entity; or . . . whose interests may be substantially affected by the performance or nonperformance of the individual’s official duties.”
Saturday’s report says “The number, value, and extravagance of the gifts accepted by Justice Thomas have no comparison in modern American history” and says that some of the parties who gave gifts to Justice Thomas had pending cases before the Court.
Justice Thomas has denied any wrongdoing, asserting that he was not previously required to disclose the trips funded by Crow due to a personal hospitality exception that has since been clarified. However, in June, he reported Crow’s sponsored luxury vacations.
The investigation also revealed that the Judicial Conference of the United States, tasked with establishing guidelines and investigating ethical breaches by federal judges, has fallen short in addressing the recurring ethical controversies plaguing the Supreme Court. The report claims the body made a change that ultimately weakened judicial ethics standards, further fueling concerns about accountability at the highest levels. The report urges sweeping reforms within the Judicial Conference, including expanding its staff, tightening financial disclosure guidelines for judges, and addressing what the investigation described as a culture resistant to meaningful enforcement of its own rules. The report says, “For decades, the Judicial Conference has failed to adequately perform financial disclosure reviews, conduct investigations, and respond appropriately to ethical misconduct complaints against the justices.”
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin (D-Illinois) emphasized that the report sends a clear message that Congress must act to establish a binding and enforceable ethics code for the Supreme Court. He said, “Now more than ever before, we know the extent to which the Supreme Court is mired in an ethical crisis of its own making. So long as Chief Justice Roberts and the Judicial Conference refuse to act, we must push for a legislative solution to restore trust in the highest court.”
Under mounting pressure, the Court unveiled a Code of Conduct last November. However, Democrats were quick to criticize the move, pointing out that, unlike the code governing other federal judges, this Court’s code lacks any binding enforcement mechanism.
