(CNN) Choose Clarence Thomas and his spouse, conservative activist Ginni Thomas, took a number of luxurious journeys that included backed journeys and stays at properties owned by a Republican megadonor, in line with a brand new ProPublica report printed Thursday.

The hospitality was not disclosed in Thomas’ public monetary filings with the Supreme Court docket, ProPublica stated.

The report on the connection between Thomas and conservative businessman Harlan Crow is already including to requires Congress to research doable moral lapses. Key Senate Democrats beforehand thought of utilizing this yr’s Supreme Court docket funding invoice to stress the justices to undertake some form of ethics code.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin, Democrat of Illinois, stated in a press release that the ProPublica report was a “name to motion” and that “the Senate Judiciary Committee will act.”

A brand new report from ProPublica particulars how Thomas accepted journey hospitality from Crow that included lavish journeys to Indonesia, New Zealand, California, Texas and Georgia. A few of these journeys reportedly included touring on Crow’s tremendous yacht or staying at properties owned by Crow or his firm. ProPublica additionally recognized what seem like a number of journeys Thomas took on Crow’s personal jet that weren’t disclosed in his public ethics filings, though one journey by Thomas on Crow’s jet was disclosed in 1997.

In a press release to ProPublica that was additionally despatched to CNN on Thursday, Crow stated he has been buddies with Thomas and his spouse Ginni for greater than 30 years, and that the hospitality he prolonged to Justice over time “was no totally different than the hospitality we prolonged to our many different expensive buddies.”

“Justice Thomas and Ginni by no means requested for this hospitality,” Crow stated in a press release. He stated that “we by no means requested a few pending or decrease courtroom case, and Choose Thomas by no means mentioned it.”

The Supreme Court docket didn’t instantly reply to CNN’s request for remark, and ProPublica says Thomas didn’t reply to an inventory of detailed questions. In response to CNN’s inquiry concerning the report, a consultant for Crow despatched CNN the identical assertion he supplied to ProPublica.

Thomas, nominated in 1991 by former President George HW Bush, is the courtroom’s most senior justice and the mental chief of the present 6-3 conservative majority. Justice has additionally been the topic of scrutiny over his spouse’s political actions, together with texts she exchanged with key gamers in former President Donald Trump’s bid to overturn the 2020 presidential election.

Crow, a Dallas businessman with deep ties to Republican politics, has given greater than $10 million in publicly disclosed political contributions, ProPublica reported.

A ProPublica report paperwork a portray hanging on the Crows’ Adirondacks property that exhibits Thomas, Crow and different influential figures in Republican politics, together with Leonard Leo, the previous head of the Federalist Society who performed a key position in Trump’s reshuffle of the federal bench.

Executives of main companies in addition to leaders of outstanding conservative organizations had been current on the journeys with Crow that Thomas joined, in line with the ProPublica report.

“I’m not conscious that any of our buddies have ever lobbied or sought to affect Choose Thomas in any case, and I’d by no means invite anybody who I consider was intent on doing so. These are gatherings of buddies,” Crow’s assertion learn.

In his 2001 filings, Thomas disclosed a $19,000 Bible that belonged to Frederick Douglass and was given to him by the Crow household. ProPublica describes a portrait of the decide and his spouse given to him by Crow, in addition to a $105,000 donation from Crow’s basis to the “Justice Thomas Portrait Fund” at Yale Legislation Faculty, the place Thomas is an alumnus.

Crow in a press release he acknowledged that he had made “contributions to tasks celebrating the life and legacy of Justice Thomas, simply as we’ve got completed with different nice leaders and traditionally important figures.” He stated that neither Thomas nor his spouse requested for these contributions.

Requires stricter disclosure guidelines for the courtroom

The report comes shortly after the federal judiciary quietly adjusted its interpretation of what judges should disclose as a part of their reward and hospitality transparency obligations.

Some judicial ethics consultants advised ProPublica that the omission of the Crow-subsidized journey — and particularly the journey on his yacht and jet — from Thomas’ monetary disclosure might have violated disclosure guidelines. Below the outdated pointers, there was ambiguity about what required disclosure. For instance, current amendments clarified that this disclosure is required for private hospitality backed by third events. That seems to narrate to Thomas’ stays on the Adirondack property, because it was owned by Crow’s firm, ProPublica stated.

Stephen Gillers, an ethics professional at New York College Faculty of Legislation, stated in an electronic mail to CNN on Thursday that earlier than current modifications in disclosure pointers, Thomas might make that declare as a result of the decision got here from a person — not an organization or enterprise. topic — it was not essential to declare it whatever the worth of the reward.

However underneath the newly introduced modifications, Gillers stated, “some info, maybe all journey info” must be disclosed. The applying deadline is Might 15 of the next yr after receiving the reward.

Judges face a lot looser “hospitality” necessities than members of Congress, who should get approval for sponsored journey and should report different company and sure monetary hospitality particulars inside 30 days, in line with Gabe Roth — who runs Repair the Court docket, a bunch that advocates reforms of ethics and judicial transparency.

“It is clear that the non-public hospitality guidelines the judiciary adopted final month do not go far sufficient: The Supreme Court docket and decrease courts want the identical, if not stricter, guidelines on presents and journey than members of Congress have,” Roth stated in a press release.

In his assertion Thursday, Durbin stated Thomas’ reported habits “merely flies within the face of the moral requirements People anticipate of any public official, not to mention a Supreme Court docket justice.”

Durbin too He said it was time “for an enforceable code of conduct for judges.”

Rep. Hank Johnson, the highest Democrat on the Home Judiciary Subcommittee on the Courts, stated in a press release that Thomas ought to resign. He made the identical proposal in response to different allegations of moral violations by the judiciary.

“Moreover, the Justice Division ought to examine his violation of federal legislation for failing to reveal his personal yacht and jet journey as required by legislation, and the state bar associations to which he belongs ought to start investigations to find out whether or not Choose Thomas is match to retain his license to apply legislation,” Johnson added.

Updates to hospitality disclosure pointers had been introduced in late March by Democratic Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, who requested the Administrative Workplace of the US Courts for clarification on what falls underneath the exemption for so-called “private hospitality” reporting.

Whitehouse, who chairs the Judiciary Committee’s subcommittee that oversees the judiciary, he said on Twitter the brand new report on Thomas’ journey “cries out for the type of unbiased investigation that the Supreme Court docket — and solely the Supreme Court docket, throughout the federal government — refuses to conduct.”

“Who had been Thomas’ companions on these free undisclosed holidays and what pursuits did these undisclosed companions have earlier than the courtroom? The query is apparent,” Whitehouse stated on Twitter. “All of this requires a sturdy investigation, and it is the chief justice’s job to be sure that occurs.”

Even earlier than the brand new revelations, some Senate Democrats had requested Congress to incorporate ethics language for judges in payments funding the Supreme Court docket subsequent yr.

Democratic Sen. Chris Van Hollen, who heads the appropriations subcommittee tasked with writing the courtroom funding invoice, helps the thought, however pressured it might want Republican assist.

“People’ confidence in our highest courtroom is eroding due to this habits,” he stated in a press release responding to the ProPublica report. “We want solutions. And the Court docket wants a code of ethics.”

This story has been up to date with extra developments.

CNN’s Ariane de Vogue and Joan Biskupic contributed to this report.