Lindsey Graham, the highest Senate Judiciary Republican, has gotten tens of 1000’s of {dollars} from Harlan Crow.
Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee have spent current weeks fiercely defending the deep corruption on the Supreme Court docket within the wake of main scandals involving a number of conservative justices, saying that reining within the Court docket is “pointless.” A brand new report finds, nonetheless, that these lawmakers could also be defending their very own pursuits as a lot as they’re defending the Supreme Court docket.
In accordance to an analysis by Accountable.US, all 9 of the Senate Judiciary Republicans have collectively acquired practically half 1,000,000 {dollars} in donations from conservative megadonor Harlan Crow, the person who current bombshell reports have uncovered has been bankrolling Supreme Court docket Justice Clarence Thomas for many years.
This consists of lawmakers like Sen. Lindsey Graham (South Carolina), the highest Republican on the committee, who final week stated that the committee’s hearing on the Thomas revelations and Supreme Court docket ethics had been an effort by Democrats to “delegitimize the Court docket and cherry choose examples to make some extent.” Graham received $20,600 from Crow in 2020 alone, the report finds.
Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), who repeated the dubious argument that it could represent a violation of separation of powers for Congress to implement a binding ethics code for the Supreme Court docket on the listening to, has gotten $294,800 from Crow over the past 20 years through his affiliated PACs and fundraising committees.
In the meantime, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) odiously steered that the listening to was akin to a “lynching” and stated that Democrats had been merely upset that Thomas has had wealthy benefactors. Cruz, it seems, has had the identical rich benefactor, having acquired $23,500 from Crow for his Senate and presidential campaigns between 2011 and 2017.
In all, the Senate Judiciary Committee’s 9 Republicans have acquired $453,300 from Crow since 2002, Accountable.US discovered.
“There must be bipartisan outrage concerning the undisclosed items and journey billionaire megadonor Harlan Crow has given Justice Thomas,” stated Accountable.US President Kyle Herrig in a statement. “Senate Judiciary Republicans ought to be part of their Democratic colleagues to behave. Nonetheless, their silence up to now could also be as a result of they’ve acquired a whole lot of 1000’s of {dollars} from Crow as effectively.”
However, Senate Judiciary Democrats have been in search of to unravel corruption on the Supreme Court docket — not solely from Thomas, but additionally from different justices who could also be in violation of the Court docket’s non-binding ethics code.
On Monday, the Democrats on the committee sent a letter to Crow and his affiliated firms asking him to offer, throughout the subsequent two weeks, a full checklist of the items and journeys he’s given to Thomas over the course of their friendship, as investigative stories have already discovered a number of situations of huge items from Crow to Thomas that the justice by no means disclosed.
“Latest investigative reporting has recognized a number of situations by which you or entities you personal or management have made funds, bought actual property, or offered items, journey, or different gadgets of worth to Supreme Court docket Justice Clarence Thomas and members of his household,” the letter learn. Lawmakers say the knowledge will assist them craft laws for Supreme Court docket reform.
Not one of the Republicans on the committee signed the letter.
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