According to AFP, US Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts said on Tuesday that he would refuse to testify before Congress after a wide-ranging controversy over ethics issues involving his colleagues, including Justice Clarence Thomas.

The Court’s most conservative justice, Justice Thomas, has found himself at the center of controversy following ProPublica’s revelations about undeclared benefits he received from businessman Harlan Crowe.

John Roberts, who was invited to testify on May 2 before the Senate, cited “concerns about the separation of powers and the importance of maintaining judicial independence” in a letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee.

The chief justice, himself a member of the court’s conservative majority, also included a copy of the Supreme Court’s ethics guidelines and a statement signed by nine justices in which they “reaffirm and reiterate fundamental ethical principles and practices.”

“The exposure of judges who fail to adhere to expected ethical rules continues to pile up,” Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin warned in a letter requesting testimony to Judge Roberts last week.

Clarence Thomas has denied any intentional wrongdoing, saying the rules for reporting such stays have changed and that Crowe has no Supreme Court case.

Conflict of interest

It is not the first time Mr Thomas’ name has been involved in controversy: his wife Ginny, a conservative lobbyist and activist, has been implicated in Donald Trump’s “crusade” to prove — unfairly — that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from him.

After the text messages and emails she sent to that end were discovered, the left criticized her for an apparent conflict of interest and asked her husband to withdraw from the election.

Appointed by Republican President George W. Bush in 1991, Clarence Thomas was confirmed despite allegations of sexual harassment by former nurse Anita Hill. He always denied them, claiming that he was a victim of “lynching”.

After the recent revelations, some elected Democrats called for his “immediate resignation.”

Conservative Justice Neil Gorsuch is also at the center of controversy: Politico reports that he sold a large Colorado estate shortly after his 2017 confirmation to the Supreme Court to the head of law firm Greenberg Traurig, who regularly litigates cases at the High Court. .

After John Roberts declined to testify, two senators, Democrat Angus King and Republican Lisa Murkowski, introduced a bill Wednesday that would create a code of conduct for the Supreme Court and appoint a person to review potential conflicts of interest and complaints.

The High Court justices are the only federal judges not directly subject to the code of conduct, two elected officials said.

“Americans have made clear their concern about the transparency — or lack thereof — of the Supreme Court and its justices,” Murkowski said.