Washington— A pair of Senate Democrats have asked Attorney General Merrick Garland to appoint a special counsel to investigate whether Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas violated federal tax laws or ethics when he travel and lodging received from a wealthy benefactor.
Senators Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island and Ron Wyden of Oregon told Garland in a letter dated July 3 and made public Tuesday that the Senate investigation and public report have revealed evidence of allegedly “repeated and intentional” omissions of gifts and income from Thomas’ annual financial disclosure report .
The two Democrats said that the level of ethical violations of justice exceeds the actions of other federal officials who have been investigated by the Department of Justice for similar actions.
“The appointment of a special counsel will serve the public interest,” Whitehouse and Wyden wrote in the letter. “The public must be confident that the courts and the Department of Justice are carrying out their responsibilities fairly, impartially, and without regard to political interests or partisan interests.”
Senate Democrats have been investigating ethics practices at the Supreme Court following a news article detailing the travel Thomas received from Republican megadonor Harlan Crow, whose financial statements were not disclosed.
The two have been friends for over twenty years and have taken many family trips together, Thomas said he said in response to examine the relationship. The conservative justice said he did not believe he would have to report the trip under rules on personal hospitality, but pledged to comply with new disclosure guidelines from the Judicial Conference issued last March.
Thomas officially reported two trips he took with Crow in July 2019 — to Bali, Indonesia, and a private club in Monte Rio, California — on his latest financial disclosure filed in May. At report made public last year, they also listed travel on Crow’s private plane and a stay at a property in the Adirondacks in 2022, as well as details of a real estate transaction with Crow in 2014.
However, Senate Democrats have said in a letter to Garland that they believe Thomas received gifts and undisclosed income worth millions of dollars.
Wyden and Whitehouse said the Senate Finance and Judiciary Committee has been investigating a $267,000 loan connected to the purchase of Thomas’ recreational vehicle in 1999. The loan was provided by Anthony Welters, a friend of Thomas, and documents obtained by the Democratic Party. The finance panel showed that Thomas only paid interest on the loan. The committee said Welters forgave the loan balance in 2008, but Thomas did not report the forgiveness as income on his 2008 financial disclosure report.
Justice attorneys told Wyden and Whitehouse in a letter in January that Thomas and his wife “make all payments to Mr. Welters regularly until the terms of the agreement are completed. rules on this matter.”
In a letter to the attorney general, the two Democrats also accused Thomas of failing to report gifts he received from Crow and others. Besides flight in Crow’s private planethey cited yacht trips and lodging Thomas received from him from 2003 to 2021. Gifts from other wealthy businessmen include private plane trips, tickets to sporting events and lodging, according to Wyden and Whitehouse.
He said federal ethics laws require him to disclose the gifts and that there is unlikely to be a disclosure exemption for personal hospitality.
“Justice Thomas’s past financial disclosure reports, combined with later revisions, suggest that he did not understand the simple requirements that he had to comply with,” Wyden and Whitehouse wrote. “We assert that this pattern of filing, misfiling, and correction provides sufficient predictability for further investigation by the relevant authorities.”
The senators said the gifts also increase the likelihood of tax violations by businessmen if they do not report or pay the required gift tax.
“We do not make this request lightly,” Whitehouse and Wyden wrote. “The evidence gathered to date clearly shows that Justice Thomas has committed multiple violations of federal ethics and false statement laws and raises important questions about whether he and his wealthy benefactors have complied with their federal tax obligations.”
A representative for Thomas did not respond to a request for comment on the letter on Tuesday.
Democrats on the Judiciary Committee are expected to issue a report this summer with the findings of an investigation into ethical practices at the Supreme Court. Some of his requests for information, such as for Chief Justice John Roberts to answer questions about ethical issues, have been rebuffed due to power separation concerns.
Sen. Dick Durbin, panel chairman, tried last month to unanimously pass legislation that would require the Supreme Court to adopt binding ethics rules, but was blocked by Sen. Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican.
Court formal ethical rules itself in November, but the new code does not include an enforcement mechanism.