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Hi — We're re-sending this email to make sure you don't miss this exciting news. — the Demand Progress team.
Hi,
For months, we’ve been hearing about Supreme Court Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, and others getting millions of dollars in luxury travel, sweetheart real estate deals, and cash payments from right-wing megadonors and corporate lobbyists.
Last Thursday, the U.S. Senate finally took action to do something about it.
The Senate Judiciary Committee passed the Supreme Court Ethics, Recusal, and Transparency Act, which would be the first ever binding code of ethics for the Supreme Court.
The next step is to pass the bill through the full Senate, and with momentum growing, we’re turning up the heat.
Justice Clarence Thomas is perhaps the most scandal-plagued member of the Supreme Court. Republican billionaire Harlan Crow ensured that Thomas and his family lived like the superrich for two decades — paying for his relative’s elite private-school education, buying property from him way above market value, and lavishing the Thomases with luxury vacations and gifts.1,2,3
None of it was ever reported.
But Thomas isn’t the only Supreme Court justice with serious ethical breaches. Neil Gorsuch hid the sale of his property to one of the nation’s most powerful attorneys.4 Samuel Alito took a luxury vacation to Alaska worth over $100,000 from Republican megadonor Paul Singer without disclosing a dime.5
In the face of these punishing revelations, Chief Justice John Roberts keeps insisting the court can police itself without a binding code of ethics. But this week, the Senate Judiciary Committee finally stepped in and said “enough is enough.”
It is, experts believe, the first time such a comprehensive ethics bill has passed the committee in at least 50 years.6 This is a huge step forward, made possible in no small part by your support of Demand Progress Action’s tireless advocacy.
Demand Progress Action has mobilized more than 100,000 people to demand Congress impose a code of ethics on a court that abjectly refuses to police itself. But the fight is just beginning. Now we need to keep the pressure on.
With gratitude for all that you do,
Tihi and the team at Demand Progress Action
Sources:
1. ProPublica, "Clarence Thomas Had a Child in Private School. Harlan Crow Paid the Tuition.," May 4, 2023.
2. ProPublica, "Billionaire Harlan Crow Bought Property From Clarence Thomas. The Justice Didn’t Disclose the Deal.," April 13, 2023.
3. ProPublica, "Clarence Thomas and the Billionaire," April 6, 2023.
4. Politico, "Law firm head bought Gorsuch-owned property," April 25, 2023.
5. ProPublica, "Justice Samuel Alito Took Luxury Fishing Vacation With GOP Billionaire Who Later Had Cases Before the Court," June 20, 2023.
6. Roll Call, "Senate panel to vote on Supreme Court code of ethics mandate," July 19, 2023.
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