We support our Publishers and Content Creators. You can view this story on their website by CLICKING HERE.

Senate Democrats on Saturday morning concluded a nearly two-year-long investigation into the ethical practices of the Supreme Court, issuing a final report that focused on the court’s conservative members, accusing them of impropriety such as accepting lavish gifts and failing to recuse amidst conflicts of interests. 

“Now more than ever before, as a result of information gathered by subpoenas, we know the extent to which the Supreme Court is mired in an ethical crisis of its own making,” Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee Dick Durbin (D-IL) said in a statement Saturday morning. 

BIDEN TO USE LAME-DUCK SESSION TO ‘TRUMP-PROOF’ LEGACY

The 97-page staff report accuses Justice Clarence Thomas, who joined the court in 1991, of receiving millions of dollars in gifts over the years with a level of extravagance that has “no comparison in modern American history.”

The report also alleges that, following public reporting about Thomas’s largesse in 2004, Thomas “stopped disclosing the vast majority of gifts he received,” which the report says “constitutes a violation of federal law.”

Justice Samuel Alito was also accused in the report of misusing the personal-hospitality exemption for his 2008 Alaskan fishing trip, at a lodge which cost more than $1,000 per day, paid for by hedge fund billionaire Paul Singer.

‘VERY SANE, VERY SOLID’ GLENN YOUNGKIN’S NEXT ACT IS STILL BEING WRITTEN

The report also refers to the incident in which Alito’s wife flew an upside-down American flag in their yard on January 6, 2021, saying that the Alitos have “created the appearance of impropriety in several instances that necessitate his recusal in specific cases under federal law.” 

None of the report’s 14 major findings reference by name Justices Elana Kagan, Sonia Sotomayor, or Ketanji Brown-Jackson, the three currently sitting justices appointed by Democrat presidents. Their absence from the report is notable given that Sotomayor was accused in 2023 of having staff members urge schools and libraries to purchase copies of her memoir, while Jackson has faced heat last year for not disclosing her husband’s income for his work involving medical malpractice consultation.

Mark Paoletta, a close friend to Thomas who often fights back against allegations of ethical impropriety waged against conservative justices, posted to X that the report was “pathetic” and obfuscated the truth surrounding Thomas and Alito’s private activities outside of their work on the bench.

“Justice Thomas and Justice Alito COMPLIED with the laws, regulations, advice, and Judicial Conference rulings regarding the reporting of trips with friends. It was not required under the personal hospitality exception, no matter what Durbin and Whitehouse claim or wish,” said Paoletta.

The Judicial Conference also recently updated its rules to role back tighter restrictions on judges when it comes to any visits they might make at the private homes of individuals that are registered under an LLC. Now, judges need not report stays as private residences so long as their stays at corporate-owned households are not related to business reasons.

The ethics investigation did not include any input from Republican lawmakers and was merely a staff report, not a full committee report. Republican staff members for the committee did not immediately respond to the Washington Examiner’s request for comment. 

HARRIS FACES POLITICAL WILDERNESS AFTER HISTORIC LOSS LEAVES HER PARTY ‘IN TATTERS’

The investigation’s conclusion comes as a last-ditch effort for Democrats to pass legislation to impose a formal ethics code on the Supreme Court via legislation, a move that has met significant resistance from Republicans and from the high court itself. Earlier this year, Chief Justice John Roberts “respectfully” declined demands by Durbin and Whitehouse to hold meeting with him, citing “separation of powers” concerns about such a request.

The Supreme Court last year passed a long-awaited code of ethics that is directed specifically at the nine justices, though it has faced criticism from defenders of the court who say they have always followed lower court ethics guidance, to Democrats who say there needs to be an enforcement mechanism such as an outside panel of judges to recommend disciplinary actions for alleged ethical violations.

“Chief Justice Roberts’s continued unwillingness to implement the only viable solution to the Court’s ethical crisis—an enforceable code of conduct—requires Congress to act to restore the public’s confidence in the highest court in the land,” reads the report. 

The report says that passing the Supreme Court Ethics, Recusal, and Transparency Act, which passed out of the committee in September 2023, is a “necessary step.”

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER

But the overarching debate surrounding the passage of an ethical code through congressional legislation is the constitutional issue of whether Congress can regulate the conduct of a co-equal branch of government. Alito has been highly vocal that Congress cannot enact this type of oversight on the courts, and some Republicans who have sided with his viewpoint also worry about the separation of powers.

“While the justices interpret the law, they are not above it,” reads the report. “The Roberts Court has seemingly forgotten this, and the only way forward is the implementation of an enforceable code of conduct.”