{"id":1996955,"date":"2023-08-10T17:13:07","date_gmt":"2023-08-10T21:13:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/senate-gop-silent-on-latest-clarence-thomas-claims-while-democrats-urge-supreme-court-reforms\/"},"modified":"2023-08-10T17:15:39","modified_gmt":"2023-08-10T21:15:39","slug":"senate-gop-silent-on-latest-clarence-thomas-claims-while-democrats-urge-supreme-court-reforms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/senate-gop-silent-on-latest-clarence-thomas-claims-while-democrats-urge-supreme-court-reforms\/","title":{"rendered":"Senate Republicans remain silent on the recent allegations against Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, while Democrats are calling for reforms within the Supreme Court."},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">48<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fsenate-gop-silent-on-latest-clarence-thomas-claims-while-democrats-urge-supreme-court-reforms%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1996955&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><h2>Senate Judiciary Committee Republicans Silent \u200bon Allegations Against Justice Clarence Thomas<\/h2>\n<p>Senate \u2064Judiciary Committee Republicans are staying silent in the wake\u200b of a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/senate-judiciary-republicans-silent-on-report-justice-clarence-thomas-accepted-more-luxury-vacations-gifts-than-previously-known\">report<\/a> alleging Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas accepted\u200c more luxury \u200cvacations and \u200cother lavish gifts \u2063than had been previously known.<\/p>\n<p>Democrats on \u200dthe committee, meanwhile, are reiterating their calls for the Supreme Court to implement \u2064an\u2062 ethics code, either by Chief\u200c Justice John Roberts \u2063or an \u2063act of Congress.<\/p>\n<h3>Report \u200cReveals Extensive Gifts and\u200b Ties to Billionaire Benefactors<\/h3>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.propublica.org\/article\/justice-clarence-thomas-wealthy-conservative-sponsors\">ProPublica report<\/a>, published Thursday, claims that the associate justice has accepted at\u200b least 38 vacations, \u206326 international\u200b private jet flights (plus an additional\u2062 eight by helicopter), 12 VIP \u200bpasses to sporting events, and two resort stays during his \u2064time\u200d on the court. The report\u200c also revealed his ties to a number of billionaire benefactors.<\/p>\n<p>Ethics experts interviewed for the report said the failure to \u200ddisclose the travel and sports perks could amount to a legal violation.<\/p>\n<p>Thomas \u2064has yet to comment\u2064 on the story.<\/p>\n<p>The \u2062Washington Examiner requested comment from every member of the Judiciary Committee, which oversees Supreme Court nominations and any judicial \u200dreform bill that \u2063goes through the chamber, about the\u200d report.<\/p>\n<p>Every Republican \u2062on the panel \u200ddeclined.<\/p>\n<p>On the Democratic side, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin \u2063(D-IL) said\u200b in a statement, \u201cThe latest ProPublica revelation of unreported lavish gifts to Justice \u200bClarence Thomas makes \u200dit clear: \u2062these \u2062are not\u200c merely ethical lapses. This is \u200ca shameless lifestyle \u200cunderwritten \u200cfor \u200byears \u200dby a gaggle\u200c of fawning billionaires.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cJustices Thomas \u200band Alito have made it clear \u200cthat they\u200b are \u2064oblivious to the embarrassment they have visited\u2063 on the \u2064highest court \u2063in the land,\u201d the statement continued. \u201cNow, it is up to\u2063 Chief\u2064 Justice Roberts and the other Justices to act\u2064 on ethics reform \u2063to save their own\u200b reputations and\u2062 the integrity of the Court. If the Court \u2064will not act, then Congress must continue to.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Durbin pushed Sen. \u2062Sheldon Whitehouse&#8217;s (D-RI) Supreme Court Ethics,\u200b Recusal, \u200dand \u2062Transparency Act through \u2063the committee on a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/sen-joe-manchin-threatens-to-derail-bidens-1-9-trillion-aid-bill-unless-it-receives-bipartisan-support\/\" title=\"Sen. Joe Manchin Threatens To Derail Biden\u2019s .9 Trillion Aid Bill Unless It Receives \u2018Bipartisan\u2019 Support\">party-line vote<\/a> last month. He moved forward on the legislation \u200cin the wake of a series of\u2064 reports this\u200d year on\u200b Supreme Court justices allegedly accepting luxury gifts and making money through their offices.<\/p>\n<p>He has also <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/1-2-million-guns-sold-why-firearms-sales-keep-busting-records\/\" title=\"1.2 Million Guns Sold: Why Firearms Sales Keep Busting Records\">held committee hearings<\/a> on Supreme Court ethics.<\/p>\n<p>Whitehouse called on the full Senate \u200dto pass his bill in a Thursday statement on the latest Thomas news, noting, \u201cThere may \u2064have been a time when the honor system worked well \u200benough for the American people to trust in the ethics of the justices, but that \u2063trust \u200dhas been squandered.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cClearly there is a lot more we still \u200ddon\u2019t know about the extent\u200d to\u2062 which right-wing billionaires have underwritten Justice Thomas\u2019s billionaire-like lifestyle over the\u200c years,\u201d the Rhode Island senator said. \u201cFrom fossil fuels to hedge funds, these billionaires\u2019 fortunes were\u200d made in industries regularly affected \u200bby \u200bthe Court\u2019s rulings.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) called the allegations \u201cthe height\u200d of hypocrisy\u201d\u200d in a post on X, \u200bthe <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/zuckerbergs-attempt-to-take-down-musks-twitter-is-tanking-further-and-further-each-day-data-shows\/\" title=\"Zuckerberg's bid to defeat Musk on Twitter is failing more each day, data reveals.\">social \u2064media platform<\/a> formerly known as Twitter.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis\u2063 unprecedented flow of luxuries \u2014 flights, yacht cruises, expensive sporting tickets \u2063\u2014 flouts\u2064 the \u200cindependence of our judiciary,\u201d he wrote. \u200c\u201cWe need accountability &#038; a SCOTUS\u200c code of ethics.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Sen. Peter Welch (D-VT) noted in \u2064a post on X, \u201cWith \u200bevery new scandal, the Supreme Court\u2064 shows it isn\u2019t policing itself.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In addition\u200b to the Thursday story, ProPublica\u2062 reported earlier\u200b this year that Thomas accepted luxury trips \u2064and gifts from billionaire GOP donor Harlan Crow, which he did not include in \u2062financial disclosure forms. The outlet also\u200c published an article detailing\u2063 a luxury fishing \u200ctrip \u2063Justice Samuel Alito accepted \u200cin 2008.\u2063 News of Thomas\u2019s \u200d<a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/senate-gop-silent-on-latest-clarence-thomas-claims-while-democrats-urge-supreme-court-reforms\/\" title=\"Senate Republicans remain silent on the recent allegations against Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, while Democrats are calling for reforms within the Supreme Court.\">undisclosed gifts largely sparked outrage<\/a> among\u2063 Democrats, with few Republican defections.<\/p>\n<p>Most \u2063GOP senators on the committee had\u200d withheld judgment \u2062on the idea of an\u2063 ethics code\u200d until Justice Sonia Sotomayor\u2019s team was accused in\u200b a July Associated\u2064 Press report of pressuring public institutions that \u2063have hosted her to buy hundreds, sometimes thousands, of her \u2064books.<\/p>\n<p>Judiciary Republicans told the Washington Examiner in response to the Sotomayor news that they would support \u200dRoberts initiating an ethics\u200c code for \u2064the\u200c court, but none were \u200cbehind Congress\u200c establishing those\u200c rules.<\/p>\n<p>While Senate Republicans stayed silent\u2063 on\u200c the latest developments, one prominent conservative defended Thomas\u200c amid\u2062 the\u2063 onslaught of Democratic criticism.<\/p>\n<p>Cassie Severino, who leads the Judicial Crisis\u2063 Network\u2064 and who once clerked for Thomas,\u2064 wrote \u2063on X, \u201cIf you had a team\u2062 of journalists constantly digging for \u200csupposed \u2018ethics\u2019 violations involving Justices Sotomayor, \u2064Kagan, Jackson, or Ginsburg and Breyer when\u2064 they were on the Court. You would find the same and \u200cmore.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut left-wing dark money backed\u200c ProPublica is singularly interested in \u200btargeting the conservatives on \u200cthe Court, and Justice Thomas \u200bis\u200d their \u2062number #1 target because the Left hates him the most,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe thing about \u2062Justice\u2062 Thomas \u200cis that he doesn\u2019t scare \u200beasily. They have been after him for 32 years, and he has yet to back down.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/senate-judiciary-republicans-silent-on-report-justice-clarence-thomas-accepted-more-luxury-vacations-gifts-than-previously-known\">Click here<\/a> to read more from The \u2062Washington Examiner.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Senate Judiciary Committee Republicans are mum after a report claimed Justice Clarence Thomas received undisclosed luxury vacations and extravagant gifts. Democrats on the committee continue to urge the Supreme Court, led by Chief Justice John, to establish an ethics code.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1996956,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[538],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1996955","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-washington-examiner"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1996955","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1996955"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1996955\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1996956"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1996955"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1996955"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1996955"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}