Hirono, Colleagues Send Letter to Chief Justice Calling for Investigation of Justice Thomas’s Extravagant Billionaire-Funded Trips

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Senator Mazie K. Hirono (D-HI), a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, sent a letter calling on the Chief Justice of the United States to launch an ethics investigation into Justice Clarence Thomas’s extensive billionaire-funded luxury travel and other outstanding allegations of misconduct.  The letter comes a day after a bombshell ProPublica report exposed that Justice Thomas and his wife accepted extravagant vacations worth as much as $500,000 on the dime of Republican megadonor Harlan Crow. The letter was led by Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) and Rep. Hank Johnson (D-GA).

“In light of yesterday’s reporting by ProPublica that Justice Clarence Thomas has repeatedly accepted and failed to disclose gifts and travel from billionaire Harlan Crow, we write to request an investigation into these and other outstanding allegations of unethical, and potentially unlawful, conduct at the Supreme Court.  To date, the Court has barely acknowledged, much less investigated, these allegations.  Amidst all of this—perhaps due in part to the Court’s inaction—the American people’s trust in the Supreme Court has plummeted to an all-time low.  We believe that it is your duty as Chief Justice ‘to safeguard public faith in the judiciary,’ and that fulfilling that duty requires swift, thorough, independent and transparent investigation into these allegations,” wrote the lawmakers.

In February, Senator Hirono joined Senator Whitehouse and Rep. Johnson in reintroducing the Supreme Court Ethics, Recusal, and Transparency (SCERT) Act, comprehensive legislation that would create a much-needed process for investigating misconduct at the Supreme Court, strengthen recusal standards for judges and disclosure rules for special interests trying to influence the courts, improve disclosure of gifts and travel for judges, and mandate the creation of a binding code of ethics.  The SCERT Act would require the Supreme Court to adopt disclosure rules for gifts, travel, and income that are at least as rigorous as ethics rules for members of Congress.  

“ProPublica’s reporting underscores a disturbing disregard for transparency and ethics on the Supreme Court,” said Senator Hirono. “Americans should be able to trust that Supreme Court Justices apply the law fairly and objectively, but the Court’s lack of a code of ethics rightfully undermines the public’s faith in our judiciary. If the Court won't adopt a code of ethics, Congress needs to require it to, which is why we’ve introduced legislation to do exactly that.”

In addition to Senators Hirono and Whitehouse and Representative Johnson, the letter was also signed by Senators Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Ed Markey (D-MA), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Tom Carper (D-DE), Alex Padilla (D-CA), Tim Kaine (D-VA), Peter Welch (D-VT), and Jack Reed (D-RI), and Representatives Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), Adam Schiff (D-CA), Gerald Connolly (D-VA), Deborah Ross (D-NC), Mike Quigley (D-IL), Madeleine Dean (D-PA), Pramila Jayapal (D-WA), Cori Bush (D-MO), Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX), and Steve Cohen (D-TN).

“It is no longer viable for the Supreme Court to argue that it ‘consults’ the code of conduct governing lower court judges.  And it is not accurate to state that the justices follow the same financial disclosure rules as other federal judges, when there are such flagrant violations.  While the Judicial Conference recently updated those rules to reject definitions that Justice Thomas may have thought justified his lack of disclosure, your annual report more than a decade ago on the judiciary cast doubt on whether the Court believes it must abide by those rules —notwithstanding the federal law governing disclosure that expressly applies to Supreme Court justices.   It is well past time for the Supreme Court to align with the rest of government in a proper code of ethics enforced by independent investigation and reporting,” the members added.

The full text of the letter is below and is available here.

The Honorable John G. Roberts

Chief Justice of the United States

Supreme Court of the United States

One First St. NE

Washington, D.C.  20543

Dear Chief Justice Roberts:

In light of yesterday’s reporting by ProPublica that Justice Clarence Thomas has repeatedly accepted and failed to disclose gifts and travel from billionaire Harlan Crow, we write to request an investigation into these and other outstanding allegations of unethical, and potentially unlawful, conduct at the Supreme Court.  To date, the Court has barely acknowledged, much less investigated, these allegations.  Amidst all of this—perhaps due in part to the Court’s inaction—the American people’s trust in the Supreme Court has plummeted to an all-time low.  We believe that it is your duty as Chief Justice “to safeguard public faith in the judiciary,” and that fulfilling that duty requires swift, thorough, independent and transparent investigation into these allegations.

According to ProPublica, “[f]or more than two decades, [Justice] Thomas has accepted luxury trips virtually every year . . . without disclosing them.”   These gifts were provided by Texas real estate magnate Harlan Crow, “[a] major Republican donor for decades.”   Gifts that Mr. Crow reportedly provided to Justice Thomas include international travel on private jets and yachts, and stays at private resorts, including annual retreats to a resort owned by Mr. Crow’s company.   The value of some of these gifts exceeds $500,000, according to ProPublica’s reporting.

Justice Thomas has disclosed almost none of these gifts over the past twenty years.  Federal financial disclosure laws require senior government officials, including Supreme Court justices, to report gifts such as these annually.   The limited exceptions to these laws are intended to allow government officials to enjoy hospitality in the course of ordinary, personal friendships.  These exceptions are not meant to allow government officials to hide from the public extravagant gifts by wealthy political interests.  It is telling that Mark Paoletta, the Thomases’ lawyer who accompanied the Justice on at least one of these trips, was informed by executive branch ethics counsel that he needed to reimburse Mr. Crow.

A proper investigation should inquire who accompanied Justice Thomas on these undisclosed trips.  Current reporting shows at least one individual active before the Court:  Leonard Leo, who played an instrumental role in the appointment of several members of the Court and whose dark-money front groups funded ads for their confirmations and now appear before the Court.   We have reason to believe that Mr. Crow himself is connected to multiple groups that have filed amicus briefs with the Court.   Yet the public has no way of knowing who else with interests related to Justice Thomas’s official duties joined these trips.

Just last year, a right-wing activist admitted to coordinating a previously undisclosed 20-year, $30 million judicial lobbying campaign at the Supreme Court.   As part of this operation, this activist reportedly “coached” wealthy donors “to wine, dine and entertain conservative Supreme Court justices” in an attempt to “embolden the justices” to write “unapologetically conservative” opinions.   These donors apparently “financed numerous expensive dinners with [Justices] Thomas, Alito, Scalia and their wives at Washington, D.C. hotspots” and hosted at least one Justice at a private retreat.   According to the activist who led this campaign, the donors involved in this lobbying effort were even able to secure advance notice from Justice Alito of the Supreme Court’s 2014 decision in a pending case.   While the Court called that concern “uncorroborated,” there was abundant corroboration that the activist knew in advance and communicated that knowledge.  This episode too has never been investigated.  

Over the course of the past year, Justice Thomas has participated in numerous cases implicating his wife’s activities related to the 2020 election and the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.   Justice Thomas’s failure to recuse in these cases raises questions about whether he violated both federal law and canons of judicial ethics regarding conflicts of interest and recusal.  It has been said that he knew nothing of his spouse’s activities; that is an assertion of fact that can and should be investigated, and would be in the ordinary course for other judges and officials.

It is no longer viable for the Supreme Court to argue that it “consults” the code of conduct governing lower court judges.  And it is not accurate to state that the justices follow the same financial disclosure rules as other federal judges, when there are such flagrant violations.  While the Judicial Conference recently updated those rules to reject definitions that Justice Thomas may have thought justified his lack of disclosure, your annual report more than a decade ago on the judiciary cast doubt on whether the Court believes it must abide by those rules —notwithstanding the federal law governing disclosure that expressly applies to Supreme Court justices.   It is well past time for the Supreme Court to align with the rest of government in a proper code of ethics enforced by independent investigation and reporting.

Should the Supreme Court continue to refuse to act swiftly on these matters, we will continue to press Congress to act to restore accountability and ethics at the highest Court in the land.

Sincerely,

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