Senator Whitehouse criticized the Judicial Conference for declining to refer Justice Thomas to the Department of Justice over unreported gifts and travel.
Democratic Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse criticized the U.S. judiciary's policy-setting body for declining his request to refer Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas to the Department of Justice over the right-wing judge's repeated failure to disclose luxury trips funded by billionaire benefactors.
Whitehouse, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said the Judicial Conference's decision 'contains a number of inconsistencies and strange claims, and ultimately doesn't address the only real question the Judicial Conference should've been focused on for the nearly two years it's spent on this matter: Is there reasonable cause to believe that Justice Thomas willfully broke the disclosure law?' 'By all appearances,' Whitehouse added, 'the judicial branch is shirking its statutory duty to hold a Supreme Court justice accountable for ethics violations.' In a letter to Whitehouse on Thursday, Judicial Conference Secretary Robert Conrad wrote that Thomas 'has filed amended financial disclosure statements' addressing his past failure to divulge trips and other gifts funded by billionaires, including GOP megadonor Harlan Crow. Thomas has insisted he did not know he was required to disclose such gifts, a claim that Whitehouse and other critics have met with deep skepticism. Conrad also expressed doubt that the Judicial Conference has the power to refer Supreme Court justices to the Justice Department, even as he acknowledged the body's referral authority under 5 U.S.C. § 13106(b). That statute says the Judicial Conference 'shall refer to the attorney general the name of any individual which such official or committee has reasonable cause to believe has willfully failed to file a report or has willfully falsified or willfully failed to file information required to be reported.' 'There is at least reasonable cause to believe that Justice Thomas intentionally disregarded the disclosure requirement.'
Judicial Conference Clarence Thomas Ethics Violations Disclosure Law Department Of Justice
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