Senate Democrats renew calls for information from Harlan Crow about Justice Thomas

Senate Democrats renewed their requests from GOP mega-donor Harlan Crow on Friday about his financial relationship with Justice Clarence Thomas. 

Earlier this month, Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee asked Mr. Crow to provide detailed information about his friendship with Justice Thomas and detail certain gifts or expenses he’s made on his behalf. 

Mr. Crow, through his attorneys last week, declined to answer the inquiries, saying in his letter that it suggested a separation of powers conflict. 

Senate Judicial Committee Chairman Sen. Richard Durbin, Illinois Democrat, pushed back on that, writing a letter to Mr. Crow on Friday saying separation of powers problems arise between branches of government — not with a private citizen. 

“Your explanation rested on a flawed assessment of Congress’s Article I oversight authority; a cramped reading of Congress’s constitutional authority to legislate in the area of government ethics; and a wholly misplaced view of the separation of powers, a doctrine that is implicated when Congress requests information from coordinate branches of government, not private individuals,” the committee’s letter read. 

A lawyer for Mr. Crow did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 

Democrats say the information will help them craft legislation imposing a code of ethics on the high court.

They asked for a list of any financial gifts or benefits that were given to a justice that exceeds $415.

The request came after a series of news articles about Justice Thomas and his friendship with Mr. Crow, a billionaire real estate developer.

ProPublica reported that Mr. Crow paid private school tuition at Hidden Lake Academy and Randolph-Macon Academy for Justice Thomas’ great-nephew, whom the justice took in to raise at the age of 6.

The tuition total could have cost more than $150,000, according to ProPublica. Justice Thomas did not disclose the payments in his financial disclosure forms, and the news outlet suggested that runs afoul of ethical standards required of a federal judge.

Scrutiny of the justice has renewed over the past couple of months. ProPublica reported in April that Justice Thomas did not disclose that he took multiple luxury vacations with Mr. Crow or that Mr. Crow purchased the home of Justice Thomas’ mother even though she continued to reside there.

The Washington Post followed with an April 16 article examining what appeared to be a typo on the justice’s financial disclosure related to family real estate holdings in which he reported rental income to Ginger Ltd. Partnership instead of Ginger Holdings LLC.

The New York Times followed with a piece critical of Justice Thomas and other Republican appointees collecting generous salaries to teach courses at George Mason University’s Antonin Scalia School of Law.

Justice Thomas has defended his friendship with Mr. Crow and said he consulted with colleagues about disclosure requirements and didn’t skirt any rules.

In an interview published last week by the Atlantic, Mr. Crow denied talking to Justice Thomas about the high court or matters pending before it. He also said the purchase of Justice Thomas’ mother’s home was a fair market transaction.

The high court doesn’t have a mandatory code of ethics, even though lower court judges are expected to avoid impropriety or do business with anyone who may come before the bench.

Justice Roberts has said the high court has generally followed the Judicial Conferences’ Code of Ethics that are binding on lower courts — but not the Supreme Court — since 1991.