Thomas of the US Supreme Court will not be referred to the Justice Department, according to Reuters from the Justice Department
From Nate Raymond (NS:)
(Reuters) – A judicial policy-making body on Thursday rejected a request by Democratic lawmakers to refer conservative U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas to the Justice Department to investigate allegations that he failed to disclose gifts and trips provided by a wealthy benefactor.
In two letters, the secretary of the Judicial Conference of the United States, the federal judiciary’s top body, cited amendments Thomas made to his annual financial reports that address several issues raised by Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse and Rep. Hank Johnson.
In a separate letter, he also declined to refer liberal Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Justice Department over claims by a conservative group that she had not disclosed the source of her husband’s consulting income. Jackson has since edited her posts, according to the letter.
Democratic lawmakers made their request in an April 2023 letter after reports by ProPublica and others that Thomas, a member of the Supreme Court’s conservative 6-3 majority, failed to report gifts including luxury trips from wealthy Texas businessman and Republican donor Harlan Crow.
Their letter argued that the referral to the Justice Department was warranted on the basis that Thomas had willfully failed to comply with the financial disclosure requirements of the Government Ethics Act of 1978.
Thomas said he had been advised not to report that type of “personal hospitality” and said he would do so going forward starting with his 2022 annual report, due in August 2023.
U.S. District Judge Robert Conrad, who heads the administrative branch of the judiciary and acts as secretary of the Judicial Conference, wrote that the judiciary has been busy since 2023 updating its financial disclosure requirements and clarifying when the personal hospitality exemption does not apply.
He said Thomas has filed amended financial statements since the problems first arose and has agreed to follow relevant guidance issued to other federal judges, including the new policies.
“We have no reason to believe he did anything less,” Conrad wrote.
In declining to refer the case to the Justice Department, Conrad cited “constitutional questions” about whether the Judicial Conference could do so that require further study.
He also said the lawmaker’s request was called into question when Whitehouse and another senator wrote directly to Attorney General Merrick Garland asking him to appoint a special counsel to investigate the same matters.
