Democrats call for new supreme court ethics rule amid Clarence Thomas scandal

Democrats accuse top US court of lowest ethical standards' but Republicans say criticism of Gorsuch and Thomas is unfounded

Arguing that the US supreme court has the lowest ethical standards" of any court in the country, Senate Democrats on Tuesday demanded tighter rules on the nine justices but ran into resistance from Republicans who accused them of being bitter over recent conservative rulings.

Democrats had convened a hearing of the Senate judiciary committee after a series of media reports on entanglements between two of the court's conservative justices and parties with interests in its cases. These includes Clarence Thomas's acceptance of luxury travel and a real estate deal from Republican mega-donor Harlan Crow, and Neil Gorsuch's sale of a property to a law firm executive with business before the court. Both were interactions the two justices did not fully disclose.