‘Harlan Crow doesn’t call the shots here,’ Senate Judiciary Democrats tell attorney

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Senate Minority Whip Richard Durbin of Ill., right, and Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid of Nev., left, leave the podium after answering questions for reporters following the Senate vote on the Iran nuclear agreement on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, Sept. 10, 2015. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais) Pablo Martinez Monsivais

‘Harlan Crow doesn’t call the shots here,’ Senate Judiciary Democrats tell attorney

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Sens. Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) released a statement on Tuesday calling a letter from a lawyer for Republican billionaire donor Harlan Crow an “unwarranted refusal to cooperate” with their requests for information about Crow’s relationship with Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.

Michael D. Bopp, Crow’s attorney, sent a letter to Durbin on Monday, offering to meet with Senate Judiciary Committee staff to discuss Crow’s interactions with Thomas, but expressed he had concerns the panel does not have the authority to investigate the relationship. The top Democrats on the panel disputed Bopp’s arguments.

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“The latest correspondence from Harlan Crow’s lawyer is a clear, unwarranted refusal to cooperate with legitimate requests for information from this Committee,” Durbin and Whitehouse wrote. “When asked to produce information about these gifts to inform Congress’s efforts to increase transparency and accountability at the Supreme Court, Crow puts forward a dangerous, undemocratic argument: that an individual can withhold information from Congress based on what he believes is in the best interest of the Supreme Court.”

The senators go on to say that “all options are on the table moving forward” in their pursuit of more information about Crow’s undisclosed gifts to Thomas. Although, they do not specify what exactly those options entail in the statement.

“Let’s be clear: Harlan Crow doesn’t call the shots here. He is not a branch – nor even a member – of government and cannot claim the protections and privileges of one,” the senators added. “The Senate Judiciary Committee has clearly established oversight and legislative authority to assess and address the ethical crisis facing the Court.”

Durbin and Whitehouse also do not mention whether they plan on accepting Crow’s attorney’s offer to meet. Aides for the panel did not respond to an additional request for comment from the Washington Examiner. 

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Thomas has been at the center of controversial allegations reported by ProPublica that he went on undisclosed trips at Crow’s expense and that Crow bought property that belonged to the justice’s family. The outlet also reported that the GOP donor bankrolled the private school tuition of Thomas’s grandnephew, who was raised by the justice “as a son.”

The letter from Bopp comes after Crow refused a request from the Senate Judiciary Committee to disclose information about Thomas’s relationship with him last month, writing that the panel doesn’t have the power to “investigate Mr. Crow’s personal relationship with Justice Clarence Thomas.”

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