Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) said that Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas‘s undisclosed gifts and trips from GOP donor Harlan Crow show a “conflict of interest.”
The Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman said if Thomas were a judge on a circuit court, it would be a violation of law, while speaking on NBC’s Meet the Press on Sunday.
BREYER CALLS THOMAS A ‘MAN OF INTEGRITY’ AS DEMOCRATS RATCHET UP ETHICS CONCERNS
“If this were another judge, if this were a member of Congress, and it happened that some Texas billionaire came in and said, I’m going to buy your mom’s house and the houses nearby and own this so she doesn’t have to pay rent or a mortgage payment. You’d say to yourself, ‘Well, that’s obvious.’ That’s the sort of thing that needs to be disclosed. That’s a clear indication of a conflict of interest, and it should be raised,” Durbin said.
Durbin also pushed for the high court to be subject to a code of conduct, which would require “timely disclosures” and recusal when there are conflicts of interest.
The Illinois Democrat also said that he is still waiting on an “official response” from Chief Justice John Roberts to testify before the Senate regarding ethics, saying a response to the invitation saying it had been forwarded to the judicial conference’s Committee on Financial Disclosure was not a sufficient answer.
“We’re waiting for the chief justice to answer my invitation. I think that’s the first step that ought to be taken with the Supreme Court itself, with its leader, the chief justice. Make it clear that they’re going to bring reform when it comes to the ethics to the court and spell out what they’re going to do,” Durbin said.
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Thomas has defended himself on the allegations regarding trips he went on with his friend Harlan Crow, who is a Dallas-based real estate developer and GOP donor, saying he “sought guidance from my colleagues and others in the judiciary, and was advised that this sort of personal hospitality from close personal friends, who did not have business before the court, was not reportable.”
Thomas has not commented on newer allegations that he did not disclose a real estate transaction with Crow.
