By Nate Raymond (NS:)
(Reuters) – A judicial policymaking body on Thursday rejected a request from Democratic lawmakers to refer conservative U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas to the Justice Department to examine allegations that he failed to disclose gifts and travel given by a wealthy donor.
In two letters, the secretary of the American Judicial Conference, the highest policy-making body in the federal judiciary, cited amendments Thomas made to annual financial disclosure reports that addressed several issues raised by Senator Sheldon Whitehouse and Representative Hank Johnson.
The conference also rejected in a separate letter a conservative group's request to similarly refer liberal Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Justice Department based on omissions in her disclosure reports.
The letter noted that Jackson has since amended her reporting. The letter was addressed to the US Presidential Renewal Center, Russell Vought, who was chosen by Republican President-elect Donald Trump to lead the US Office of Management and Budget.
Representatives of the judges, lawmakers and the center did not respond to requests for comment.
Democratic lawmakers had made their request about Thomas, a member of the Supreme Court's 6-3 conservative majority, in an April 2023 letter after reports from ProPublica and others that he had not given gifts including luxury travel from wealthy Texas businessman Harlan Crow.
Their letter alleged that the referral to the Department of Justice was justified on the basis that Thomas willfully failed to comply with financial disclosure requirements set forth in the Ethics in Government Act of 1978.
Thomas said he was notified that he did not have to report this type of “personal hospitality” and said he would do so starting with his 2022 annual report, which was filed in August 2023.
U.S. District Judge Robert Conrad, who heads the administrative arm of the judiciary and serves as secretary of the Judicial Conference, wrote that the judiciary has been busy since 2023 updating financial disclosure requirements and clarifying when the personal hospitality exemption does not apply.
He said Thomas has filed revised financial disclosure reports since the problems first arose, and that he has agreed to follow relevant guidance issued to other federal judges, including new policies.
“We have no reason to believe he did anything less,” Conrad wrote.
In declining to refer the case to the Justice Department, Conrad cited “constitutional issues” about whether the judicial conference could do so that require further study.
He also said the lawmakers' request came up for debate when Whitehouse and another senator wrote directly to Attorney General Merrick Garland asking him to appoint a special counsel to investigate the same matters.
