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We live in a world in which billionaires can do just about anything they want, which is why it isn’t surprising that Harlan Crow seems mystified by the fact that Democrats on the Senate Finance Committee could possibly want detailed information from him regarding the gifts and favors with which he has been showering Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.
On Monday, Committee Chairman Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) put Crow, as well as fellow conservative Supreme Court benefactors/puppet masters Robin Arkley and Leonard Leo, on notice that the panel would vote on subpoenas for the trio in light of their reluctance to cooperate with an investigation into the undisclosed gifts and trips that Thomas and fellow Justice Samuel Alito had received from them.
So far, Durbin and Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), who chairs the panel’s Subcommittee on Federal Courts, Oversight, Agency Action, and Federal Rights, are underwhelmed with the responses they have received from the conservative influencers (yes, that’s not how this word is normally used, but it accurately describes what deep-pocketed conservatives are trying to do: shape the direction of the court).
However, they noted that information from Crow, Leo, and Arkley would be critical to finding out more about the gifts the justices received, why they failed to account for them, and what this kind of influence-buying gets you on the Supreme Court.
“By accepting these lavish, undisclosed gifts, the justices have enabled their wealthy benefactors and other individuals with business before the Court to gain private access to the justices while preventing public scrutiny of this conduct,” the senators stated.
As might be expected, the three conservative influence-peddlers are not exactly falling all over themselves to help the committee.
Durbin and Whitehouse stated that Crow, Leo, and Arkley “have either refused to comply or offered to produce certain limited information that fell well short of what the Committee needs and to which it is entitled.”
Due to this “intransigence,” the senators stated that they would have no other choice but to use a “compulsory process to obtain the information they hold.”
Crow, for his part, seemed indignant about the idea that anybody could want information from him for plying Thomas with luxury vacations and other favors.
“It’s disappointing that one party on the Committee would choose to pursue an unnecessary, partisan, and politically motivated subpoena instead of simply reciprocating Mr. Crow’s good faith efforts at a reasonable compromise that respects both sides,” Crow’s office said in a statement.
How is this for a compromise: When you get caught giving stuff of value to your buddy on the Supreme Court and people ask questions about that relationship, then you give them the required documents?
Of course, that’s not how things usually work in Billionaireland, where everybody gets a “get out of jail free” card with every roll of the dice.
And while Crow seems to want to paint this investigation as a partisan endeavor and not a legitimate corruption probe into why Thomas never reported the hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of stuff he got from his “friends,” he should get used to the added scrutiny that his actions have invited.
