Congressional Democrats sent letters alleging Justice Clarence Thomas likely violated federal ethics laws to a committee of federal judges tasked to handle such complaints.
Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) and Rep. Hank Johnson (D-GA) had called on the Judicial Conference of the United States to look into Thomas’s omission to report travel and real estate deals with Dallas-based Republican megadonor and real estate developer Harlan Crow.
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“There is at least reasonable cause to believe that Justice Thomas intentionally disregarded the disclosure requirement to report the sale of his interest in the Savannah properties in an attempt to hide the extent of his financial relationship with Crow,” Whitehouse and Johnson previously wrote in a joint statement.
U.S. District Judge Roslynn R. Mauskopf, director of the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, responded Tuesday, acknowledging the lawmakers’ complaint was referred to the committee tasked to handle such matters.
“I have forwarded your letter to the Judicial Conference Committee on Financial Disclosure, which is responsible for implementing the disclosure provisions of the Ethics in Government Act and addressing allegations of errors or omissions in the filing of financial disclosure reports,” Mauskopf wrote in a letter obtained by the Washington Examiner.
University of Richmond law professor Carl Tobias said Mauskopf’s acknowledgment was “important” because “that’s the policymaking arm of the federal courts.” However, it remains to be seen how the committee will proceed based on the reply.
The judiciary’s financial disclosure rules include a disciplinary process for failing to file required information, which may include civil or criminal court actions.
Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), who chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee, has repeatedly vowed that the panel “will act” in response to reports of Thomas’s disclosure omissions, and Democrats have requested that Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts investigate the matter.
Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee met Monday evening in Durbin’s office to discuss next steps, with Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) saying there would be a hearing on Thomas’s ethics concerns.
“We’re going to have hearings — this work period, I hope, maybe even in the next few weeks,” Blumenthal, who serves on the committee, told reporters after the meeting.
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Thomas has only responded to ProPublica’s first report on the undisclosed travel with Crow, issuing a rare statement defending his decision not to disclose by saying he was advised at the time that he did not have to report it.
“Early in my tenure at the Court, I 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 said on April 7, noting he intended to follow recently revised disclosure guidelines related to travel.
