Senate Democrats ask Harlan Crow to list gifts to Thomas and any other judges

Senate Democrats want to know exactly what gifts Republican megadona Harlan Crow gave to Justice Clarence Thomas. NBC's Ali Vitale is with us from Capitol Hill. So the Senate Judiciary Committee sends this letter to Crow. What they want is an itemized list of anything valuable, not just that he got from Harlan Crow, but his family and other justices, right? What can you tell us? Yeah, exactly. And look, this is the Judiciary Committee asking for more information about the things that they do know, the things that have been reported on publicly in the instance of Harlan Crow and Justice Thomas. But it's hard to ask for the things that you don't know exist. And that's partly why we're watching the Senate Judiciary Committee, or at least Democrats from that committee, move forward in trying to make the court be more transparent in things of this nature.

So what they're asking for from Harlan Crow in this instance is everything from an itemized list of all transportation and lodging to real estate transactions to the more obvious, which are gifts and donations. But all of those sort of run afoul of the ethics that this committee thinks the Supreme Court should uphold, but doesn't actually have to, according to the rules that are on the books right now. That's why the Supreme Court is saying that they're asking for this from Crow as part of their efforts to help the court monitor itself. Of course, there are Republicans on that very same committee that say this is not the Senate's job and that these are two separate branches of government. Nevertheless, we are watching the Senate Judiciary and Democrats writ large here in Washington try to talk more about the things from an ethics perspective that the Supreme Court needs to be doing, but isn't currently. you.

MSNBC