Senator Sheldon Whitehouse wants an ethics investigation into the conduct of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. The Rhode Island Democrat's call for the probe follows news that Thomas accepted luxury trips from a big Republican contributor.
“It is no longer viable for the Supreme Court to argue that it ‘consults’ the code of conduct governing lower court judges. And it is not accurate to state that the justices follow the same financial disclosure rules as other federal judges, when there are such flagrant violations. While the Judicial Conference recently updated those rules to reject definitions that Justice Thomas may have thought justified his lack of disclosure, your annual report more than a decade ago on the judiciary cast doubt on whether the Court believes it must abide by those rules —notwithstanding the federal law governing disclosure that expressly applies to Supreme Court justices. It is well past time for the Supreme Court to align with the rest of government in a proper code of ethics enforced by independent investigation and reporting,” the the Senator added.
Whitehouse says the burden is on Thomas to explain apparent violations of ethics and reporting rules as part of a transparent investigation.
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