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PREVIOUSLY: 

• Justice Samuel Alito Took Luxury Fishing Vacation With GOP Billionaire Who Later Had Cases Before the Court — With Help From Eureka’s Rob Arkley
• U.S. Senators Ask Rob Arkley and Other Donors for Itemized Lists of Gifts to Supreme Court Justices

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Democrats in the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee are losing patience with Rob Arkley. 

In a letter issued this morning to one of Arkley’s Security National business offices in Baton Rouge, La., 10 majority members of the committee note that Arkley has declined to provide information they requested from him back in July.

“You also declined to provide any justification for your failure to provide the information we requested,” says the letter, which is signed by prominent senators such as Dick Durbin (majority whip and committee chair), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) and former presidential candidates Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and Cory Booker (D-NJ).

To recap the background here, the Senate Judiciary Committee is following up on a string of investigative stories (primarily from nonprofit outlet ProPublica) examining the cozy relationships between conservative justices on the U.S. Supreme Court and billionaire donors such as real estate tycoon Harlan Crow and hedge fund manager Paul Singer. 

Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito, in particular, have failed to disclose lavish gifts from such patrons, including luxury vacations on yachts and private jets, leading to what members of the Judiciary Committee call a “judicial ethics crisis overshadowing the Supreme Court.”

Arkley was implicated through a ProPublica investigation published in June, which detailed a luxury Alaskan fishing vacation Alito took in 2008. The trip was planned and attended by conservative activist and Federalist Society executive Leonard Leo, and the VIP guests reportedly stayed for free at a luxury fishing lodge owned by Arkley.

“A planning document prepared by lodge staff describes Alito as a guest of Arkley,” the ProPublica story says. “Another guest on the trip told ProPublica the trip was a gift from Arkley, and two lodge employees said they were told that Alito wasn’t paying.”

Arkley also flew late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia to Alaska in his private jet in 2005, according to ProPublica’s reporting, and in a memorable anecdote, Scalia mixed martinis with ice chipped off the Hubbard Glacier while aboard a chartered fishing vessel called the Happy Hooker IV.

The Senate Judiciary Committee is now considering legislation to strengthen ethics rules and standards that apply to the Court, and in its July letters to Arkley and Leo, the Democratic committee members requested itemized lists of the gifts they’ve bestowed on justices of the Supreme Court.

According to today’s follow-up inquiry, Arkley did respond via letter on July 25, though rather than providing the information requested he referred the committee to a response from Leo, who is also stonewalling investigators.

In his own reply to the committee, Leo argued that the inquiry lacks a valid legislative purpose and amounts to political retaliation against him. In a letter sent to Leo today, the committee members who responded to Arkley describe Leo’s claims as “frivolous” and “unreasonable,” and they give him until Oct. 19 to submit the information they’ve requested.

Arkley has been given the same deadline, which presumably comes with the implied threat of a “contempt of Congress” charge. 

Arkley did not immediately respond to an email requesting more information. We’ll update this story if he does so.

Below is a link to the Senate Judiciary Committee’s letters to both Arkley and Leo.

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DOCUMENT: Senate Judiciary Committee letters to Arkley and Leo