Senate Democrats are asking for a full accounting of the free travel and other gifts that conservative billionaire Harlan Crow has bestowed upon Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.
Judiciary Committee chairman Dick Durbin (D-IL) and the panel's 10 other Democrats signed a letter asking Crow to provide an itemized list of any gifts worth more than $415 that he's given to Thomas or any other justice or their family members, in addition to a complete list of all lodging, real estate, transportation and admission to private clubs he may have provided to them, reported the Washington Post.
“Regardless of the intentions behind these stays, if these gifts to Justice Thomas enabled those with interests before the Court to have private access to a Justice, it is a matter of significant public concern,” the senators wrote.
The committee joins the Senate Finance Committee in probing Crow's generosity to Thomas after ProPublica reported that he'd invited the justice on lavish vacations, bought his mother's house and provided private school tuition to his grandnephew -- which Thomas did not properly disclose.
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All of the committee's 11 Democrats, including Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), who's been absent for moths due to health reasons, signed the letter, but none of the panel's Republicans signed on.
It's not clear what the committee would do if Crow ignores the request by the May 22 deadline, and Democrats lack the votes to issue subpoenas with Feinstein absent.
