Chicago City Wire

House Democrats called on Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas to resign Wednesday following reports that he accepted lavish trips and gifts from a prominent Republican donor for more than 20 years without disclosing them.

Lawmakers led by Georgia Rep. Hank Johnson, ranking member of the Judiciary Subcommittee on Courts, and Illinois Rep. Jesús “Chuy” García as well as several advocacy groups urged Thomas to step down from the high court during a news conference Wednesday.

“It’s time for Clarence Thomas to resign because of his ethics violations and conflicts of interest,” García told USA TODAY in a statement. “It’s time for a binding ethics code for our Supreme Court, and it’s time for the wealthy and well-connected to be held to the same standards as everyone else.”

Thomas accepted luxury gifts without disclosing them, according to report

ProPublica reported earlier this month on a series of lavish trips Thomas has taken over more than two decades, which have been funded by billionaire and GOP megadonor Harlan Crow.

Thomas has accepted luxury gifts from the billionaire Dallas businessman nearly every year, which had included vacations on Crow’s superyacht and trips on the billionaire’s Bombardier Global 5000 jet as well as a week each summer at Crow’s private resort in the Adirondacks, ProPublica reported, citing flight records, internal documents and interviews with Crow’s employees. 

The report also found that flight records from the Federal Aviation Administration and FlightAware suggest that Thomas makes "regular use" of Crow's jet, noting that Thomas used the private plane for a three-hour trip in 2016.

Thomas’ frequent trips to Crow’s private lakeside resort, Camp Topridge in the Adirondacks in upstate New York, have also subjected Thomas to Crow’s extensive guestlist of corporate executives and political activists.

The disclosures are the latest ethics controversy to dog Thomas, who also has faced tough questions about his incomplete financial disclosure forms and appearances at other political gatherings of wealthy conservative donors and influencers.

Following ProPublica’s report, the Washington Post found that Thomas has also been disclosing income from a family real estate company over the past 20 years despite the company ceasing operations in 2006.

Democrats eye hearing, McConnell dismisses concerns

Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee led by Senate Majority Whip and committee chairman Dick Durbin, D-Illinois, called on Supreme Court Justice John Roberts to investigate ProPublica’s report.  

The group of Senate Democrats announced that the Senate Judiciary Committee plans to hold a hearing on the need to “restore confidence” in the court’s ethical standards in a April 10 letter sent to Roberts.

They also noted that they previously sent a letter to Roberts in 2012, urging the court to adopt a resolution to bind Supreme Court justices to the same ethics codes other federal judges abide by.

If Roberts fails to address the concerns over the court’s ethical standards, Democrats said that the committee will consider legislation itself to resolve the current concerns.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-K.y., expressed support for Roberts following the push from Democrats for the chief justice to investigate Thomas.

“I have total confidence in the Chief Justice of the United States to deal with these court internal issues,” McConnell told reporters Tuesday.

Original source can be found here.