Ocean State Today

Washington, DC – Following bombshell reporting by ProPublica and the Washington Post detailing new ethics scandals around the Supreme Court, U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) sent a letter to the Judicial Conference urging the body to be more transparent about its procedures for considering potential violations of the law by Supreme Court justices, and to inform the public of how the Judicial Conference resolved past complaints related to Justice Thomas’s financial disclosures.

In a new letter to the Director of the Administrative Office of the United States Courts, who also serves as Secretary of the Judicial Conference, Whitehouse requested information on the opaque operating procedures and membership of the committees of the Judicial Conference.  Whitehouse also asked for additional details on previous 2011 referrals of potentially unlawful conduct by Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.

“When the issue is potentially unlawful conduct by a sitting Supreme Court justice, transparency is essential for accountability and to instill public confidence in the outcome.  The Judicial Conference’s process remains almost entirely opaque.  The 2011 referral to the Committee on Financial Disclosure seems to have disappeared.  The public does not even know which members of the Judicial Conference serve on the Committee on Financial Disclosure.  Nor does the public know the rules governing that Committee’s process for deliberating on these matters,” wrote Whitehouse.

Whitehouse continued, “This is a difficult time for the judiciary, prompted by behavior at the Supreme Court no other court would countenance.  I believe it would serve the public interest for the Judicial Conference to publish all rules governing the Judicial Conference’s operations, as well as the membership of all Judicial Conference committees, and to report the outcome of the 2011 referral as to Mrs. Thomas’s undisclosed income, and Justice Thomas’s gifts of yacht and jet travel.” 

Whitehouse’s latest request is a follow-up to an April 21 letter to the Judicial Conference urging the Committee on Financial Disclosure to move swiftly in determining whether to refer Justice Thomas to the Attorney General for apparent violations of the Ethics in Government Act, and asking for information on the Committee’s procedures for making and reporting that determination. 

Whitehouse’s request also follows-up on an April 27 letter to the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts requesting initial details on how the Judicial Conference resolved previous requests from 2011 to consider whether Justice Thomas had failed to disclose his spouse’s income, and gifts of yacht and jet travel by Republican megadonor Harlan Crow.

These most recent requests follow a letter from the Director of the Administrative Office confirming that the Committee on Financial Disclosure is the judiciary’s official source for advice to judges regarding disclosure filings, but declining to clarify whether Justice Thomas sought such guidance on his financial disclosure reporting.  The Director’s letter responded to both a letter Whitehouse wrote on April 10 asking whether Justice Thomas requested advice from the Judicial Conference on ethics questions and an April 14 letter from Whitehouse and Rep. Hank Johnson calling on the Judicial Conference to refer Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas to the U.S. Attorney General for potential violations of the Ethics in Government Act.

Recent reporting by ProPublica indicates that Harlan Crow paid for multiple years of tuition for Justice Thomas’s grandnephew to attend private boarding schools.  Reporting on Friday by the Washington Post also revealed that Leonard Leo, deeply involved in right-wing influence over the Supreme Court, directed payments of at least $25,000 to a consulting firm run by Justice Thomas’s spouse, Virginia Thomas.

In April, bombshell reporting by ProPublica exposed that Justice Thomas and his wife accepted extravagant vacations worth as much as $500,000 on the dime of Harlan Crow and did not disclose the travel.  That report was later followed by an additional ProPublica story detailing Crow’s purchase of a string of properties from Justice Thomas and his family members, which was not properly disclosed. 

In February, Whitehouse reintroduced the Supreme Court Ethics, Recusal, and Transparency (SCERT) Act, comprehensive bicameral legislation that would create a much-needed process for investigating misconduct at the Supreme Court, strengthen recusal standards for judges and disclosure rules for special interests trying to influence the courts, improve disclosure of gifts and travel for judges, and mandate the creation of a binding code of ethics.  The SCERT Act would require the Supreme Court to adopt disclosure rules for gifts, travel, and income that are at least as rigorous as ethics rules for members of Congress.  The New York Times editorial board recently endorsed the legislation.

Read the full text of Whitehouse’s new letter here and below.

Original source can be found here.