Senators seek special counsel probe of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas

• Two Democratic Senate committee leaders seek a special counsel investigation into whether Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas broke federal tax and ethics laws.
• Senate Finance Committee Chair Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., who leads a subcommittee on federal courts, asked Attorney General Merrick Garland to make the appointment.
• Evidence suggests Thomas has "secretly accepted gifts and income potentially worth millions of dollars" since he joined the high court, the senators alleged.

Two Democratic Senate committee leaders asked the Justice Department to appoint a special counsel to investigate whether Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas broke federal tax and ethics laws, the senators said Tuesday.

"We do not make this request lightly," said Senate Finance Committee Chair Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., who leads a subcommittee on federal courts, in a letter sent to Attorney General Merrick Garland last week.

"The evidence assembled thus far plainly suggests that Justice Thomas has committed numerous willful violations of federal ethics and false-statement laws," the senators alleged in the letter.

It also "raises significant questions about whether he and his wealthy benefactors have complied with their federal tax obligations," Wyden and Whitehouse wrote.

That evidence, they wrote, suggests that Thomas "likely violated federal law by accepting lavish gifts from wealthy benefactors and failing to report them" in violation of the Ethics in Government Act.

They pointed to public reporting from Propublica and other sources, as well as their own Senate investigation, in alleging that Thomas has "secretly accepted gifts and income potentially worth millions of dollars"