The culmination of a 20-month investigation, the staff report features new information and a comprehensive analysis of the ongoing ethics challenge at the Supreme Court. The Senate Judiciary Committee, chaired by U.S. Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), released the findings of its 20-month investigation into the ethical crisis at the Supreme Court, including the results of committee subpoenas. Entitled “An Investigation of the Ethics Challenge at the Supreme Court,” the majority staff report sheds light on a Supreme Court facing record-low levels of public trust, a consistent stream of ethical lapses, and repeated failures by the justices—under the leadership of Chief Justice John Roberts—to address the Court’s ethical challenges.

• For a PDF copy of the full report with appendices, click here.
• For a PDF copy of the report only, click here.
• For a PDF copy of the appendices only, click here.

On the report’s release, Durbin released the following statement: “Now more than ever before, as a result of information gathered by subpoenas, we know the extent to which the Supreme Court is mired in an ethical crisis of its own making. Whether failing to disclose lavish gifts or failing to recuse from cases with apparent conflicts of interest, it’s clear that the justices are losing the trust of the American people at the hands of a gaggle of fawning billionaires. “The highest court in the land can’t have the lowest ethical standards. So long as Chief Justice Roberts and the Judicial Conference refuse to act, we must push for a legislative solution to this crisis to restore trust in the highest court.”

• Justice Scalia accepted lavish gifts from billionaires and others with business before the Court for more than a decade, in violation of federal law, including 258 personal trips, dozens of which were never disclosed.
• Justice Thomas chose to ignore legal obligations to disclose lavish gifts after media scrutiny over his disclosures in 2004, in violation of federal law.
• Justice Alito misused the “personal hospitality exemption” when he did not disclose gifts of transportation and lodging he received for a luxury fishing trip to Alaska in 2008, in violation of federal law.
• Justice Thomas failed to disclose gifts on two occasions never before known to the public until the Committee’s investigation, including a July 2021 private jet trip to Saranac, New York, and an October 2021 private jet and yacht trip to New York City sponsored by Harlan Crow…”