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The Judicial Conference has declined to refer Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas to the Justice Department over free travel and gifts he received from wealthy benefactors and omitted from his financial disclosure forms.
According to NBC News, the Judicial Conference, a judicial organization that sets national policy for federal courts, sent letters last month to two Democratic lawmakers — Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., and Rep. Hank Johnson, D-Ga. — denying their request to refer Thomas to the attorney general for investigation following the ProPublica report that he received free travel and gifts from billionaire Harlan Crow and others.
Judicial Conference Secretary Robert J. Conrad Jr. said Thomas filed amended financial disclosures "that address several issues identified in your letter." Conrad also noted the legal uncertainty over whether the Judicial Conference could refer complaints about Supreme Court justices.
"Because the Judicial Conference does not superintend the Supreme Court and because any effort to grant the Conference such authority would raise serious constitutional questions, one would expect Congress at a minimum to state any such directive clearly. But no such express directive appears in this provision," Conrad said.
Conrad also declined a similar request from Citizens for Renewing America President Russ Vought, who President-elect Donald Trump tapped to lead his Office of Management and Budget, involving Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson. Jackson has been accused of failing to disclose details about income from her husband's medical malpractice consulting.
The Judicial Conference said both justices amended their financial disclosures and have agreed to follow guidance issued to other federal judges.
In a statement, Whitehouse slammed Conrad's response, saying it "doesn’t address the only real question the Judicial Conference should’ve been focused on for the nearly two years it spent on this matter: Is there reasonable cause to believe that Justice Thomas willfully broke the disclosure law?"
"By all appearances, the judicial branch is shirking its statutory duty to hold a Supreme Court justice accountable for ethics violations,” Whitehouse said.
Thomas' attorney Elliot S. Berke said his client "has fully complied with the new disclosure requirement" after receiving guidance over the issue in 2023.
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