Justice John Roberts asked to testify on court ethics amid Thomas reports

WASHINGTON — The Senate Judiciary chairman has invited Chief Justice John Roberts to testify next month on ethical standards at the court, a hearing that would undoubtedly focus on business transactions and travel involving Justice Clarence Thomas.

Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill., said there has been a “steady stream of revelations” regarding Supreme Court justices “falling short of ethical standards expected of other federal judges.”

Chief Justice of the United States John Roberts on Oct. 7. J. Scott Applewhite/Associated Press file

“The time has come for a new public conversation on ways to restore confidence in the Court’s ethical standards. I invite you to join it, and I look forward to your response,” Durbin wrote in a letter Thursday to the chief justice.

Court officials did not immediately reply to a request for comment.

In recent weeks, news reports have focused on the purchase by a conservative donor of three properties belonging to Thomas and his family in a transaction worth more than $100,000 that Thomas never reported, according to the nonprofit investigative journalism organization ProPublica.

ProPublica also previously revealed that Thomas and his wife Ginni were gifted with hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of annual vacations and trips by donor Harlan Crow for decades – including international cruises on his mega-yacht, private jet flights, and stays at Crow’s invitation-only resort in the Adirondacks. But the 2014 real estate deal is the first public evidence of a direct financial transaction between the pair.

The letter from Durbin asked Roberts — or another justice he chooses to testify instead — to appear before the committee on May 2. He told Roberts that the scope of his testimony would be limited to the ethics rules governing justices of the Supreme Court and potential changes to those rules.

Some Senate Republicans are skeptical of the Democratic majority’s intentions and see the hearing as mainly an effort to put a critical spotlight on Thomas.

“If we were engaged in an objective discussion about the appropriate standards for judicial ethics, that would be perfectly appropriate. I don’t believe that Democrats have any interest in an objective or fair discussion,” said Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, a member of the Judiciary panel. “This is all about a political smear job directed at Justice Thomas.”

Supreme Court justices, like other federal judges, are required to file an annual financial disclosure report which asks them to list gifts they have received but provides exemptions for hospitality from friends.

Ethics experts have offered conflicting views about whether Thomas was required to disclose the luxury trips funded by Crow. Thomas said in a statement that he was advised by colleagues that “this sort of personal hospitality from close personal friends, who did not have business before the Court, was not reportable.” Thomas did not name the other justices or those in the judiciary with whom he had consulted.

Last month, the federal judiciary bolstered disclosure requirements for all judges, including the high court justices, although overnight stays at personal vacation homes owned by friends remain exempt from disclosure.

Associated Press writer Mark Sherman contributed.