Global Courant 2023-04-11 05:08:30
Senate Democrats are demanding that Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts open an investigation into Judge Clarence Thomas for what they denounce as his “misconduct,” described in a ProPublica report released last week.
The liberal outlet’s report accused Thomas of receiving inappropriate lavish vacations from Republican mega-donor Harlan Crow, which reportedly included traveling around the world on the latter’s yacht and private jet without disclosing them.
In a letter Monday, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Senator Dick Durbin, D-Ill., along with every Democrat on the committee, cited the report as evidence that Thomas failed to uphold ethical standards for a Supreme Court justice. .
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“The report describes conduct by a sitting judge that he has not made public that clearly violates the ethical standards the American people expect of a person in a position of public trust,” the letter said. “The Senate Judiciary Committee, which has legislative jurisdiction over federal courts and judges, has a role to play in ensuring that the nation’s highest court does not have the lowest ethical standards of the federal judiciary.”
“You also have a role to play, both in investigating how such conduct could take place in the Court under your supervision, and in ensuring that such conduct does not happen again. We urge you to immediately initiate such an investigation. and take all necessary action to prevent further misconduct,” it added.
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However, experts have dismissed the ProPublica report as a political hit, explaining that judges are allowed to accept invitations to friends’ properties for dinner or vacation without paying or disclosing it.
Senator Dick Durbin, D-Ill., and Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. (Associated Press)
“This is just grasping at straws by the left desperate to take down Justice Thomas because he now has a working original majority in court,” Roger Severino, vice president of domestic policy and The Joseph C. and Elizabeth A. Anderlik Fellow at The Heritage Foundation, Fox News Digital told Fox News after the report’s release.
“This is political. Simple and straightforward,” he added.
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Constitutional law professor and Fox News contributor Jonathan Turley told Fox News Digital that until recently, “even lower court judges were not required to report such travel under a personal hospitality exception.”
The Supreme Court can be seen at sunset in Washington, on November 6, 2020. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)
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“Justice Thomas would not have been required to report the trips under the earlier rule,” Turley said. “Once again, Democrats and the media seem to be giving the same chilling responses to any story involving Thomas. This includes Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s patently absurd call for impeachment.”
Fox News’ Andrew Mark Miller and Matteo Cina contributed to this report.
