WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal courts will not refer allegations that Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas may have violated ethics laws to the Justice Department, the judiciary’s policymaking body said Thursday.
Thomas has agreed to follow updated travel and gift reporting requirements, including clearer guidance on friend hospitality, the U.S. Judicial Conference wrote to Democratic senators who had called for an investigation into the secret underwriting of luxury travel.
Thomas has previously said he had no obligation to disclose the many trips he and his wife have taken, paid for by wealthy benefactors such as Republican megadonor Harlan Crow, because they are close personal friends. The court did not immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday.
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The Supreme Court adopted its first code of ethics in 2023 despite continued criticism, although the new code still has no enforcement tool.
It is unclear whether the law allows the U.S. Judicial Conference to file a criminal referral involving a Supreme Court justice, U.S. District Judge Robert Conrad wrote. He serves as secretary of the conference, which sets policy for the federal judicial system, and is led by Chief Justice John Roberts.
A referral in the case is not necessary, Conrad said, because two Democratic senators called on Attorney General Merrick Garland this summer to appoint a special counsel. No such appointment has been made publicly.
The group Fix the Court said the financial disclosure law is clear and should apply to judges. “The Conference letters further underscore the need for Congress to create a new and transparent mechanism to investigate judges for ethics violations, as the Conference is unwilling to act based on the only method we know thought it existed to do that,” said Executive Director Gabe Roth. a statement.
Conrad also sent a similar response to a separate complaint from a conservative legal group, the Center for Renewing America, regarding Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson’s reports about the source of her husband’s consulting income. Jackson has since changed her disclosures and also agreed to updated reporting requirements, Conrad wrote.
