A report from Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee has detailed new allegations of “extraordinary gifts” US Supreme Court justices received from donors.
The 93 page reportreleased Saturday, culminates a nearly 20-month investigation led by outgoing Senate President Dick Durbin.
It builds up previous report from the ProPublica newspaper that raised questions about potential conflicts in the nation's highest court.
However, the report claims to have uncovered trips that have not been reported before It is said to have been taken by Justice Clarence Thomas at the expense of real estate developer Harlan Crow, a well-known supporter of the Republican Party.
Although other judges were also named in the report, it singled out Thomas for reprimand.
The report said: “The number, value, and abundance of gifts that Justice Thomas received are unmatched in modern American history.”
Justice Thomas has yet to publicly comment on the allegations.
Prominent Senate Democrats like Durbin have been pushing the Supreme Court to limit water restrictions to avoid conflicts of interest and ensure compliance.
In their report, Democrats criticized the Supreme Court's chief justice, John Roberts, a conservative, for not taking strong action to address the apparently rampant abuses.
“Chief Justice Roberts' continued reluctance to pursue the only way to deal with the Court's impeachment crisis — statutory rules — requires Congress to act to restore public confidence in the nation's highest court,” the report said.
It accused the court of failing to deal with a “problem of its own making”.
After ProPublica's investigation, Roberts took steps to set up the Supreme Court moral rules.
The court had never had such an order. But critics said the new law, agreed to by judges in November 2023, did not include measures to enforce convictions or investigate violations.
This has caused people to complain a lot. Gallup polling company report On December 17, confidence in the US judiciary fell sharply, making it unusual for other wealthy countries.
Gallup found that 55 percent of residents of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries expressed confidence in their courts, as mediators.
In the US, however, the figure was only 35 percent.
Saturday's report should put that doubt to rest. The report acknowledges the problem of public trust.
“The public now knows more about the amount of bribes some judges have received and how these judges and their multi-billionaires continue to act with impunity,” it said.
The report says that “justices appointed by presidents of both parties” have engaged in questionable behavior. It criticizes left-leaning Justice Sonia Sotomayor for failing to disclose travel and lodging information from the University of Rhode Island while on a book tour.
However, the report comes as much pain to Justice Thomas and his conservative colleagues, Samuel Alito and the late Antonin Scalia.
Many of the events have been described in detail elsewhere. For example, the report shows that Justice Thomas has failed to return cases in which his wife, Ginni Thomas, who is a lawyer, participated in the results. The report states that this is a violation of federal law.
ProPublica previously reported on Thomas' trips on Crow's yacht and private jet, which can cost thousands of dollars. But Saturday's report also shows two newly announced trips in October 2021 to Saranac, New York, and New York City.
In a previous public address, Thomas you have saved he “always tried to follow the instructions”. He has also portrayed his trips with Crow as “family trips” made by some of his “dear friends”.
Another colleague of Justice Thomas, lawyer Mark Paoletta, he answered to the Democrats' report on social media.
He accused Democratic Senators of “insulting” Justice Thomas and attacking the court, which currently has six or three conservative members.
Paoletta wrote: “This whole investigation was not about 'morality' but about trying to interfere with the Supreme Court.”
“The left has created different ways to attack judges (and) try to force them to drop cases. It hasn't worked.”
Earlier this year, in June, Republican senators vetoed a Democrat-led bill that would have created a way to strengthen judicial review, called the Supreme Court Ethics, Recusal and Transparency Act.
But Republicans like Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina questioned the legitimacy of the bill and called it a distraction.
In January, Republicans are expected to have a majority in the Senate, which is currently controlled by Democrats. When he does, he will have control of both chambers of Congress.