BREAKING:
The Senate Judiciary Committee has just voted to approve subpoenas for conservative activist Leonard Leo and GOP megadonor Harlan Crow in its Supreme Court ethics probe.
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) November 30, 2023
I feel like this development got overlooked yesterday, in the general news barrage. Per Huffpost, “Senate Judiciary Committee Approves Subpoenas In Supreme Court Ethics Probe”:
After a combative two-hour hearing, the Senate judiciary committee on Thursday approved subpoenas to compel the appearance of billionaire Republican donor Harlan Crow and conservative legal activist Leonard Leo.
Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), the chairman, bypassed 177 amendments filed by Republicans and abruptly held the vote in response to a last-minute GOP effort to thwart the entire process. Every Republican walked out of the hearing as soon as the vote began. The final tally was 11 Democrats voting yes to the subpoenas, no Republicans voting at all.
Crow, a Texas real estate magnate, became the focus of scrutiny after reports by ProPublica revealed that Justice Clarence Thomas did not disclose millions of dollars in gifts Crow gave him in the form of luxury travel and accommodation, real estate purchases and private school tuition for years. Leo, the architect of the conservative takeover of the Supreme Court, also found himself in the spotlight after a ProPublica report showed that he helped arrange an expensive trip, paid for by another conservative billionaire, that Justice Samuel Alito failed to disclose.
Durbin previously sent letters to Crow and Leo asking them to voluntarily appear before the committee for questioning. But both declined, claiming that the separation of powers somehow inoculated them, despite being private citizens, from having to appear before Congress. Their refusals prompted Durbin to pursue subpoenas…