Federal courts will not file criminal charges with the DOJ over separate ethics complaints against Judge Thomas
Separate ethics complaints filed by members of Congress and an advocacy group against Judges Clarence Thomas and Ketanji Brown Jackson will not be forwarded Ministry of Justicefederal court officials announced.
The American Judicial Conference said Thomas had agreed to follow updated guidelines on the inclusion of free private travel and gifts from friends, after previous reports of undisclosed hospitality.
For her part, Jackson changed her financial information after complaints about her husband’s income from medical consulting.
Democratic Sens. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) and Ron Wyden (D-OR), along with Rep. Hank Johnson (D-GA), have requested a judicial inquiry into the undisclosed hospitality extended to Thomas by billionaire friend Harland Crow. ProPublica has reported on several cases of private travel and lodging over the years.
Judge Robert Conrad, who heads the judicial conference’s policymaking body, said in letters to lawmakers that Thomas had filed amended financial disclosures “that address several of the issues identified in your letter.”
In addition, Conrad said it was unclear whether the judiciary alone could bring criminal charges against the session Supreme Court member.
“Since the Judicial Conference does not oversee the Supreme Court, and since any attempt to confer such authority on the Conference would raise serious constitutional questions, one would at least expect Congress to spell out clearly any such directive. But no such express directive appears in this provision, “said Conrad.
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The US Supreme Court is seen during sunset. (Aaron Schwartz/SIPA USA)
Conrad noted that Whitehouse and Wyden separately asked Attorney General Merrick Garland to appoint a special counsel to investigate then-former President Donald Trump. Garland has not yet acted on that request.
In a statement, Whitehouse criticized the decision of the Judicial Conference.
“By all accounts, the judicial branch is shirking its legal duty to hold a Supreme Court justice accountable for ethical violations,” Whitehouse said.
The lawsuit against Jackson was filed by Citizens for Rebuilding America, led by Russ Vought, who was appointed by President-elect Trump to lead the Office of Management and Budget.
Ethics questions, including unreported private travel by some judges, led the court to adopt its first ethics code last year.
Supreme Court of the United States (front row L-R) Justice Sonia Sotomayor, Justice Clarence Thomas, Chief Justice of the United States John Roberts, Justice Samuel Alito and Justice Elena Kagan, (back row L-R) Justice Amy Coney Barrett, Associate Justice Neil Gorsuch, Associate Justice Brett Kavanaugh and Associate Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson pose for their official portrait in the East Conference Room of the Supreme Court Building on October 7, 2022 in Washington, DC. The Supreme Court began a new term after Associate Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson was officially added to the bench in September. ((Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images))
However, compliance is left to each of them nine righteousleading to concerns that the court is not taking its own ethics enforcement standards seriously.
A two-year investigation by Senate Democrats released last week found that additional luxury trips by Judge Thomas in 2021 were not listed on his annual financial disclosure form.
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Fix the Court, a group that advocates for greater judicial transparency, called on Congress to act.
“The Conference’s letters further underscore the need for Congress to create a new and transparent mechanism for judicial investigation of ethics violations since the Conference does not want to operate on the one method we assumed existed,” said Executive Director Gabe Roth.
