Republican donor Harlan Crow on Monday wrote in a letter to the Senate Finance Committee that he will not provide a list of gifts he gave Justice Clarence Thomas, who has faced recent calls to step down. …

“We have serious concerns about the scope of and authority for this inquiry. As you are aware, the Committee’s powers to investigate are not unlimited,” the letter from Crow’s lawyer, Michael D. Bopp, said.

The Senate Finance Committee, Bopp argued, lacks a legislative purpose in its request for the list of gifts, saying that the “Supreme Court has explicitly stated that Congress has no authority to engage in law enforcement investigations or to conduct investigations aimed at exposing citizens private affairs for the sake of exposure.”

[Crow has no disclosure obligations at all, and is not accountable to the Senate as a private citizen. It’s offensive for Congress to demand such disclosures from private citizens, especially as a work-around to the judiciary’s rules for disclosures. — Ed]