Senators Want to Subpoena Businessmen Who Gifted Supreme Court Justices

WASHINGTON — Leading members of the Senate Judiciary Committee said this week they plan to subpoena wealthy businessmen they accuse of trying to influence the U.S. Supreme Court through lavish gifts.

They say the businessmen are trying to avoid questions about what appear to be conflicts of interest.

Reports of the gifts started in the news media.

“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,” says a Senate Judiciary Committee press release. “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.”

Most of the suspicion is directed at Justice Clarence Thomas, who received private jet flights, paid vacations and donations to his wife’s nonprofit group from Texas real estate developer Harlan Crow.

Other justices are accused of accepting speaking fees from political organizations.

“The Supreme Court is in an ethical crisis of its own making,” says the Senate Judiciary Committee press release.

Plans for the subpoenas were announced by Senate Judiciary Committee members Dick Durbin, D-Ill., and Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I.

They have been asking the Supreme Court for the past decade to adopt the same code of ethics required of all federal judges. In other federal courts, a panel of judges takes enforcement action against their colleagues who violate the code, which could include removing them from their jobs.

The Supreme Court relies on internal guidelines that are largely self-enforced.

A lack of strong action by Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts against his colleagues who accepted gifts has fueled many of the complaints in Congress.

The most recent allegations focus on Crow; Leonard Leo, a lawyer and conservative legal activist who is a board member of the nonprofit Federalist Society; and Rob Arkley, owner of a successful Louisiana real estate asset acquisition and management company.

News reports indicate Arkley gifted Justice Samuel Alito with a stay at a fashionable fishing lodge.

Leo and Arkley have sometimes claimed the separation of powers in the Constitution means any connection they might have had with the Supreme Court is not subject to congressional review.

On the floor of the Senate, Durbin said the upcoming subpoenas are needed “only after Mr. Crow refused to comply with committee requests, and Mr. Leo and Arkley outright stonewalled the committee in the exercise of our constitutional authority.”

He added, “How can a Supreme Court justice accept such lavish gifts, let alone fail to disclose them to the American people? The answer is very simple. The Supreme Court of the United States, the highest court in the land, does not have an enforceable code of conduct.”

Durbin is a supporter of the Supreme Court Ethics, Recusal, and Transparency Act, which is awaiting a vote in the full Senate.

The bill would require Supreme Court justices to adopt a code of conduct and create a mechanism to investigate alleged violations of the code and other disclosure laws for government employees.

Other provisions would require the justices to publicly reveal any of their affiliations with persons who file amicus briefs with the court. Amicus — or friend of the court — briefs are submitted by persons who share an interest in the outcome of a case but are not parties to it.

In addition, the justices would need to explain their reasons for recusing themselves from cases. They have no such requirement now.

The Supreme Court justices have resisted any code of conduct imposed by Congress. They said it could be used as a tool of retaliation against them when they rule on controversial issues.

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