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US Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas has for decades accepted luxury trips from a Dallas businessman without publicly disclosing them despite a federal law requiring disclosure of most gifts, a media report said on Thursday, prompting Senate Democrats to call for an investigation.
The report by ProPublica found the conservative judge has repeatedly holidayed with real estate magnate and Republican donor Harlan Crow, including on his private jet and superyacht in the US and around the globe.
It said the frequency of the gifts have “no known precedent in the modern history of the US Supreme Court.”
ProPublica reported the holidays included a 2019 “island hopping” trip with costs that “could have exceeded $500,000,” along with travel to California’s Bohemian Grove retreat for men, and Mr Crow’s East Texas ranch.
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The report raises new questions over potential conflicts of interest involving the justices and the Supreme Court, which has endured escalating criticism for its lack of a formal ethics code.
Justice Thomas and Chief Justice John Roberts did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Mr Crow told ProPublica in a statement that he and his wife have been friends with the judge and his wife Virginia since 1996 and have “never sought to influence Justice Thomas on any legal or political issue.”
Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Dick Durbin said his panel “will act” based on the report, without specifying what steps it would take.
“The highest court in the land shouldn’t have the lowest ethical standards,” said Mr Durbin, a Democrat. He said Supreme Court justices must be held to an enforceable code of conduct like other federal judges, who are instructed to avoid even the “appearance of impropriety.”
Chief Justice Roberts has said the nine justices of the Supreme Court consult that code in assessing their own ethical obligations.
New York congresswoman Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez called for the judge to be impeached. “This is beyond party or partisanship. This degree of corruption is shocking - almost cartoonish. Thomas must be impeached,” she tweeted. “Barring some dramatic change, this is what the Roberts court will be known for: rank corruption, erosion of democracy, and the stripping of human rights.”
Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, a Democrat, called on the chief justice to ensure a robust investigation is carried out. ”This cries out for the kind of independent investigation that the Supreme Court — and only the Supreme Court, across the entire government — refuses to perform,” Senator Whitehouse said on Twitter.
Another Democratic senator, Chris Murphy of Connecticut, said the report will give fresh momentum to his long-standing drive for legislation that would require the Judicial Conference of the United States to create a code of ethical conduct for the Supreme Court. “It’s no longer okay for the Supreme Court to be the only federal court without a binding ethical code,” he said in a statement.
Gabe Roth, who heads the reform group Fix the Court, called for a “reimagining” of the court’s “responsibilities when it comes to basic measures of oversight.”
Judge Thomas, perhaps the court’s most conservative member, joined the bench for a lifetime appointment in October 1991 after being nominated by President George HW Bush.
The ProPublica report is the latest revelation to prompt ethics concerns about Justice Thomas. Previous reports of his wife’s involvement in efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, along with his decision not to recuse himself from election-related cases, raised questions about his judicial impartiality.
Judge Thomas’s failure to report the trips appears to violate a federal law requiring justices, judges and other federal officials disclose most gifts, ProPublica reported, citing legal ethics experts.
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