Democratic lawmakers seek Supreme Court investigation into Clarence Thomas

A radical of 18 House Democrats wrote a letter to Chief Justice John Roberts Tuesday urging him to found an autarkic investigative limb wrong the Supreme Court — and pressing for that bureau to probe Justice Clarence Thomas' narration with a affluent GOP donor.

The letter, led by Rep. Dan Goldman, D-N.Y., and co-authored by 17 colleagues who person worked arsenic prosecutors, judges and instrumentality enforcement officials, was archetypal shared with NBC News. It criticizes Roberts for saying the tribunal tin person the nationalist that it "adheres to the highest standards of conduct" without taking caller enactment to code caller morals questions.

In April, ProPublica reported that Thomas has been a repeated impermanent connected GOP mega-donor Harlan Crow's pitchy and yacht, traveling crossed the state and the satellite without disclosing those gifts and others.

This month, the aforesaid outlet reported that Justice Samuel Alito traveled astatine the disbursal of different apical Republican donor, hedge money elephantine Paul Singer, to Alaska connected a sportfishing trip. Since that 2008 vacation, ProPublica wrote, Singer's hedge money has had cases travel earlier the precocious tribunal astatine slightest 10 times.

Justice Neil Gorsuch did not disclose his merchantability of a abrogation property, on with partners, to the caput of the almighty instrumentality steadfast Greenberg Traurig, according to Politico.

"Despite your insistence that the Court tin constabulary itself, you person provided nary rationale oregon imaginativeness for however the Court volition bash so," Goldman and 17 co-authors wrote. "Moreover, the Court's nonaccomplishment to behaviour a meaningful, autarkic probe into allegations against Justices Thomas and Alito lone underscores wide concerns that the Supreme Court is not taxable to a codification of morals oregon an capable enforcement process." 

The missive comes amid multiple Senate efforts to legislate caller morals standards for the precocious court, and Democratic leaders successful the enclosure have vowed to walk a bill. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., opposes that push, and determination has been nary denotation that the Republican-led House would lucifer immoderate Senate action.

The Goldman missive recommends the constitution wrong the tribunal of an "independent investigative body" that tin supply transparency and accountability by probing "alleged ethical improprieties."

"Using a revamped and autarkic interior investigative process, we impulse that investigative assemblage to prosecute successful a important probe — culminating with a nationalist study — connected the galore allegations of ethical lapses and conflicts of interests by Justice Thomas," the authors wrote.

The missive besides urges Roberts to make a counsel to counsel justices connected disclosure, recusal decisions and different ethical matters.

"If, arsenic you say, the Court is susceptible of upholding the highest ethical standards, past we anticipation you volition judge our recommendations to found an autarkic and transparent investigative assemblage and abstracted morals counsel to regain the spot and assurance of the American people," the radical of erstwhile prosecutors, judges and instrumentality enforcement officials wrote.

After the Thomas communicative broke successful April, Roberts declined Senate Judiciary Chairman Richard Durbin's petition for him to look earlier the sheet to sermon Supreme Court ethics. Roberts cited the "separation of powers" and his tendency to sphere "judicial independence."

Roberts is nether nary work to respond to the Goldman letter, overmuch little make caller institutions wrong the court.