The Democratic chair of the Senate finance committee has reiterated his threat to subpoena Harlan Crow, the Republican mega-donor whose gifts to the supreme court justice Clarence Thomas are the source of scandal.
In a statement Ron Wyden of Oregon accused Crow of “doubling down on bogus legal theories as he continues to stonewall basic questions about his gifts to Clarence Thomas and his family.
“Vague, carefully-worded assurance that everything is on the level [are] simply not good enough … I’ve already begun productive discussions with the finance committee on next steps to compel answers to our questions from Mr Crow, including by subpoena, and those discussions will continue,” Wyden said.
Wyden was responding to a letter from Crow’s lawyer, Michael Bopp, sent late last week in answer to Wyden’s demand for a list of gifts.
ProPublica has detailed gifts from Crow to Thomas including luxury travel and resort stays, a property purchase and the paying of school fees.
Thomas did not declare most such gifts. He has said he was advised he did not have to but would do so in future. On Wednesday, it was revealed that Thomas had asked for more time to complete his annual financial disclosures.
Crow has claimed not to have discussed politics or business before the court with Thomas or with his wife, the far-right activist Ginni Thomas.
The Guardian has shown Crow has had business before the court during his friendship with Thomas.
Democrats and activists have called for Thomas to resign or be impeached – the former vastly unlikely, the latter a political non-starter.
In his letter to Wyden, Bopp said the Senate finance committee had “fail[ed] to establish a valid justification for [its] impermissible legislative tax audit of a private citizen”.
Wyden responded after news of another letter, in which Bopp said that though he had “concerns” about senators’ attempts to investigate his client, he was willing to have a “discussion” with staffers for the Senate judiciary committee.
The chair of that panel, Dick Durbin of Illinois, and his fellow Democrat Sheldon Whitehouse, a committee member from Rhode Island, responded strongly.
“Harlan Crow doesn’t call the shots here,” they said. “He is not a branch – nor even a member – of government and cannot claim the protections and privileges of one.
“The Senate judiciary committee has clearly established oversight and legislative authority to assess and address the ethical crisis facing the court. All options are on the table moving forward.”
Whitehouse and other senators have rejected arguments that they lack the constitutional authority to investigate the supreme court.
Supreme court justices are nominally subject to the same ethics rules as all other federal judges. In practice, however, they govern themselves.
Attempts to investigate Thomas and Crow have also been blocked by the chief justice of the supreme court, John Roberts, who said he would not voluntarily appear before the judiciary committee.
On Tuesday, the president of the pressure group Accountable.US, Kyle Herrig, said: “It was Justice Thomas’s decades-long improper financial relationship with billionaire benefactor Harlan Crow that sparked the supreme court corruption crisis in the first place.”
“It’s no surprise that Crow continues to believe he and Justice Thomas exist above congressional oversight and above the law – but they don’t.
“Chief Justice Roberts has abdicated his responsibility to clean up his court, forcing Congress to step in. Whether by Roberts or Congress, we need accountability and reform now.”
