Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee laid out a string of alleged improprieties by the Supreme Court’s conservative-leaning justices in a scathing new report on the court’s ethics issues released Friday.
“The Supreme Court has mired itself in an ethical crisis of its own making by failing to address justices’ ethical misconduct for decades,” the 93-page report says, laying out alleged misconduct by Justices Samuel Alito, Clarence Thomas and the late Antonin Scalia.
The report alleges that the three justices separately failed to appropriately disclose lavish gifts and trips from wealthy benefactors, often including those with business before the court. Thomas, in particular, accepted “millions of dollars in gifts from wealthy benefactors” for nearly his entire tenure on the court, the report says, adding: “The number, value, and extravagance of the gifts accepted by Justice Thomas have no comparison in modern American history.”
Senate Democrats accuse Thomas of violating federal law by failing to recuse himself in cases that involved the political interests of his wife, Ginni Thomas, including the attempt to subvert the 2020 election results. Alito also “engaged in conduct that created an appearance of impropriety,” according to the report, citing the flags flown by his wife on their properties in response to the 2020 election interference effort.
The report says that people who sought to gain influence with the court used gifts to access justices, and that justices repeatedly failed to identify conflicts of interest or to recuse themselves in related cases taken up by the court.
The Supreme Court’s public information office did not immediately respond to MSNBC’s request for comment. Friday’s report is a culmination of a 20-month investigation by Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee. But with Republicans set to take control of the Senate in January, it’s unlikely the findings will go anywhere. Senate Democrats have pushed for a binding code of conduct for the justices amid reports of ethical lapses by the court. But Democrats have repeatedly run up against objections from their Republican counterparts, who claim they are attempting to “delegitimize” the conservative-majority court for its rulings on gun rights, abortion and other major cases. In June, Republicans blocked a vote on a Senate bill that would have required the court to adopt an enforceable code of conduct.
Clarissa-Jan Lim is a breaking news reporter for MS NOW. She was previously a senior reporter and editor at BuzzFeed News.
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