Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas accepted luxury vacations from a major GOP donor, renewing the call from Democrats for a code of ethics at the high court, NPR reports. A ProPublica investigation raises a series of potential conflicts of interest between Thomas and Harlan Crow, a billionaire businessman. Crow took Thomas and his wife, Ginni Thomas, on vacations, including cruises and private flights, that could have cost millions of dollars; Thomas did not report them as part of his annual financial disclosure. Thomas said Friday he was not required to disclose the many trips he and his wife took that were paid for by Crow. Describing Crow and his wife, Kathy, as “among our dearest friends,” Thomas said he was advised by colleagues on the high court and others in the federal judiciary that “this sort of personal hospitality from close personal friends, who did not have business before the Court, was not reportable.”
"The highest court in the land shouldn't have the lowest ethical standards," said Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) who chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee. "This behavior is simply inconsistent with the ethical standards the American people expect of any public servant, let alone a Justice on the Supreme Court." Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Josh Harder, Judy Chu and Ilhan Omar all took to Twitter to voice either their disapproval of Thomas or their support of creating an ethical standard or code for the Supreme Court.
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