- Democratic senators ask Merrick Garland to conduct a special counsel investigation into Clarence Thomas.
- They are seeking to investigate Thomas’ ethics and the “serious possibility” of tax fraud from unreported gifts.
- Thomas’ financial ties to billionaire Harlan Crow and other elites have attracted increasing attention.
Two Democratic senators have asked Attorney General Merrick Garland to open a special counsel investigation into Clarence Thomas.
In a letter released Tuesday, Sens. Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island and Ron Wyden of Oregon called for an investigation into potential federal ethics violations and the “serious possibility” of tax fraud by the Supreme Court justice.
Thomas has faced intense scrutiny over his personal and financial relationships with billionaires such as right-wing megadonor Harlan Crow, who has treated the judge to lavish international trips, gifts and tuition for Thomas’s grandnephew, Mark Martin, to attend an expensive boarding school.
In August of last year, Thomas updated his 2022 financial disclosures to include previously unreported gifts and vacations from Crow.
“We do not make this request lightly,” the senators wrote: “The evidence gathered so far clearly shows that Judge Thomas has committed numerous willful violations of federal ethics laws and false statements and raises significant questions about whether he and his wealthy benefactors have complied with their federal tax obligations. When given the opportunity to answer questions about his conduct, Judge Thomas has remained suspiciously silent.”
A Whitehouse spokesperson directed Business Insider to a press release about the letter, which indicated that Whitehouse has been asking the Judicial Conference for more than a year to investigate “Judge Thomas’ omission of billionaire-funded gifts and income from his legally required annual financial disclosure reports.”
A representative for Wyden, the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, told Business Insider that the committee released a staff memo in October detailing that Thomas never reported receiving $267,230 in loan forgiveness on his ethics forms, raising questions about his tax compliance.
After months of repeated requests from Thomas and his attorneys for an explanation that went unanswered, a spokesman said calling for a formal investigation was a necessary next step.
A Justice Department spokesperson declined to comment on the letter when contacted by Business Insider.
Representatives for the Supreme Court did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Thomas has previously denied wrongdoing, arguing that gifts from Crow and others fall under the “personal hospitality exception,” meaning they do not require disclosure.
