Democratic Senate Judiciary Chair Dick Durbin will call for a committee vote to empower him to subpoena three witnesses with ties to apparent corruption within the Supreme Court–billionaires Harlan Crow and Rob Arkley as bench packer Leonard Leo–as it calls for the Court to adopt ethics standards,
“The Supreme Court is in an ethical crisis of its own making. Thanks to investigative reporting, we now know that for decades, some justices have been joining billionaires with business before the Court on their private planes and yachts or receiving gifts such as private school tuition for a family member,” Durbin said in a statement. “And it is through this reporting that we learned the justices have not been disclosing these gifts as required by federal laws that expressly apply to them. By accepting these lavish, undisclosed gifts, the justices have enabled their wealthy benefactors and other individuals with business before the Court to gain private access to the justices while preventing public scrutiny of this conduct.”
Crow is one of Justice Clarence Thomas’s benefactors, paying over-market value for Thomas’s mother’s house and allowing her to live there rent-free, as well as paying for vacations and other luxuries for Thomas and his wife, Ginnie; Crow’s largess was disclosed in media reports, not federal financial disclosures. Arkley has paid for vacations for Justice Samuel Alito which Alito had not previously disclosed.