Harlan Crow Defies Democrats' Inquiry into Clarence Thomas Ties

Lawyers for Harlan Crow, a rightwing billionaire and friend of conservative Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, have rejected Senate Democrats' request for a list of gifts to Thomas. The Senate judiciary committee had not "identified a valid legislative purpose for its investigation and is not authorised to conduct an ethics investigation of a supreme court justice," the lawyers said. Thomas's relationship with Crow and his failure to declare many gifts has long been known, but last month, the non-profit news site ProPublica released a series of bombshell reports.