Senate Dems Plan Hearing On Supreme Court Ethics

NBC News reports:

Key Senate Democrats are eyeing a hearing about Supreme Court ethics in the wake of revelations about Justice Clarence Thomas receiving previously undisclosed gifts and luxury travel from billionaire Republican donor Harlan Crow. Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., the majority whip and Judiciary Committee chair, said the “20 years of gift travel on yachts and chartered planes was outrageous.”

He added that the failure to disclose Crow’s real estate deals and reported purchase of Thomas’s mother’s home was “beyond anything I could imagine at the Supreme Court level.” It’s not clear when the hearing will take place or what the scope would be. Durbin said he has “a number of things in mind” that he’s discussing with committee members, but he was pessimistic about getting Thomas to testify.

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New Feinstein wrinkle.

Democratic aide says the Judiciary Committee can’t issue a subpoena as part of a Clarence Thomas inquiry; that would require a majority on the panel and Democrats don’t have it without her.

“So that option is out of the question.”https://t.co/IA1NNKVXS8

— Sahil Kapur (@sahilkapur) April 18, 2023