WASHINGTON (CN) — A conservative billionaire at the center of Senate Democrats’ ethics inquiry into the Supreme Court on Tuesday blasted efforts by lawmakers to force him to turn over information about his relationship with the high court’s justices.
The Senate Judiciary Committee, which for months has been investigating reports that some Supreme Court justices engaged in ethically questionable conduct, announced Monday night that the panel would vote next week to authorize subpoenas for three individuals central to the probe.
Democrats, led by Judiciary Committee Chair Dick Durbin and Rhode Island Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, plan to issue the legal summons to conservative billionaire megadonors Harlan Crow and Robin Arkley, as well as Federalist Society founder and legal activist Leonard Leo.
Arkley and Leo came under scrutiny following reports that that Leo in 2008 arranged a fishing trip with Arkley and Justice Samuel Alito. Arkley would later have business before the Supreme Court.
Lawmakers have also dialed in on Crow’s relationship with Justice Clarence Thomas, who reportedly went on lavish vacations with the billionaire real estate developer and stayed at his multimillion-dollar estate in the Adirondacks — among other things.
The Judiciary Committee has tried on several occasions to get the three men to voluntarily turn over information about their gifts to and interactions with Supreme Court justices, but all have rebuffed the panel’s requests.
In a statement Monday night, Durbin and Whitehouse framed the subpoena threat as a last resort.
“There are no other steps for the Committee to consider other than compulsory process when presented with outright defiance of legitimate oversight requests,” the lawmakers wrote.
Arkley and Leo have flatly refused to comply with Democrats’ investigation. Crow, however, tried to strike a compromise with the committee, offering to provide information about his relationship with the justices over the last five years.
Durbin, who rejected the offer earlier this month, said Monday that Crow has “refused to engage further or comply, and as a result the next step for the Committee is to pursue compulsory process.”
Gabe Roth, director of the Supreme Court advocacy group Fix the Court, said Tuesday that the donors had plenty of time to clear the air about their relationships with the justices. “[A]fter months of the benefactors’ obstruction, Chairman Durbin had no alternative but to all for a vote authorizing subpoenas,” Roth said.
Roth said that information from the legal summons will help shed light on omissions in the justices' financial disclosure reports — both Alito and Thomas neglected to report gifts from wealthy donors — and will be useful for “revealing the depths of the ethics scandal the Court now finds itself in.”
In a separate statement Tuesday morning, Crow’s office said he was disappointed with lawmakers’ decision to pursue legal action, calling a subpoena “unnecessary, partisan and politically motivated” and arguing that he had acted in good faith to reach a compromise.
“We offered extensive information responsive to the Committee’s requests despite the serious constitutional and privacy concerns presented to the Committee, which were ignored and remain unaddressed,” Crow said through a spokesperson.
The real estate developer noted that the Judiciary Committee has already passed legislation related to their Supreme Court ethics inquiry — the panel in July narrowly approved a measure proposed by Senator Whitehouse that would force the high court to adopt a formal code of ethical standards.
“It’s clear this is nothing more than a stunt aimed at undermining a sitting Supreme Court justice for ideological and political purposes,” Crow’s office said. “Mr. Crow, a private citizen, won’t be bullied by threats from politicians.”
Despite that rebuke, the billionaire donor still left the door open for a possible compromise.
Meanwhile, the Judiciary Committee’s Republican leader expressed his disappointment with the proposed subpoenas.
“I think it’s a bad idea,” said South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham, the judiciary panel’s ranking member. “I think it has got all kinds of constitutional issues. I am very disappointed to see that we are going to go there in the middle of everything that is happening.”
Graham added that he would have more to say during the Judiciary Committee’s upcoming business meeting Thursday.
The South Carolina senator and other committee Republicans have long blasted their colleagues’ probe as partisan gamesmanship. Graham in particular has framed the effort as retaliation against the conservative-dominated Supreme Court for some of its recent rulings.
Democrats, however, argue that lawmakers must take action to address what they see as glaring conflicts of interest in the country’s highest court.
“The Supreme Court is in an ethical crisis of its own making,” Durbin said Monday. “By accepting these lavish, undisclosed gifts, the justices have enabled their wealthy benefactors and other individuals with business before the Court to gain private access to the justices while preventing public scrutiny of this conduct.”
The Judiciary Committee is scheduled to vote Nov. 9 on subpoena authorization.
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