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Senate Judiciary Committee hearing scheduled for TODAY: Clarence Thomas Under Scrutiny as Key Witness Speaks Out in Ethics Probe Key witness, Judge Mark Wolf — Reagan appointee to the federal bench — raised repeated questions and concerns as far back as 2012 about how the US court system was handling ethics complaints against Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. In 2011, complaints were filed with the Judicial Conference regarding Ginni Thomas. Reportedly, Clarence Thomas had failed to disclose years and years of his right-wing activist wife’s income. Complaints were also filed regarding Clarence Thomas’s private plane excursions, funded courtesy of billionaire Harlan Crow. (Just the beginning.) An investigation into all of the above was demanded, warranted, and conducted. The complaints were referred to a committee responsible for enforcing financial reporting rules: The Committee on Financial Disclosure. Incredibly, Clarence Thomas was cleared of “willful” wrongdoing. However, the committee never reported information about the Thomas complaints to the Judicial Conference. Judge Wolf protested the fact that the committee did not share information about these numerous, disturbing complaints with the Judicial Conference: Under federal law, the conference must refer cases to the US attorney general if there’s “reasonable cause” to believe a judge “willfully” violated the disclosure rules. “If there's reasonable cause to believe Justice Thomas acted willfully or improperly when he failed to disclose information on his recent forms—and it's hard to see how there isn't—then a referral should be made by the Judicial Conference to DOJ for appropriate action under [Ethics in Government Act]." More details below: