The Senate Judiciary Committee, in a letter to Chief Justice John Roberts Jr., is calling for an investigation into the Supreme Court's ethical standards over Justice Clarence Thomas's undisclosed acceptance of gifts and luxurious trips provided by a wealthy Republican donor. If the court does not act in response to the investigation, the committee has threatened to consider drafting a legislation clarifying the court's ethics rules. The senators wrote that Thomas's conduct is "plainly inconsistent with the ethical standards the American people expect of any person in a position of public trust." Thomas argued that he was not obliged to report the gifts and luxurious trips as he had been advised in the past that he need not report them from personal friends. Democrats have long urged the court to adopt the ethics rules that the rest of the federal judiciary follows and impose a new code of conduct on itself. The American Bar Association also recently urged the move, noting that the Supreme Court is the only court in the country without such binding rules.