Good morning. Welcome to Axios today. It's Friday, April 21st. I'm Nyla Moody. Here's

what we're following today. A SpaceX rocket launch and explosion. And AI gets into viral

music making. Plus some good news about the Florida Panther. But first, just as clearance

Thomas under scrutiny, that's our one big thing.

Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas has been in the headlines this month for possible

ethics breaches. Following a report from pro-publica that for decades, he received gifts from

a billionaire GOP donor. Pressure is now mounting for action. And yesterday, the Senate Judiciary

Committee requested testimony from Chief Justice John Roberts about the ethical standards

of the Supreme Court. Here for our Friday state of play is Axios' Managing Editor of

Politics, David Lindsay. David, can you catch us up quick with Justice Clarence Thomas's

ties to Harlan Crowe?

For decades, Harlan Crowe, who's the billionaire son of a Dallas developer, had provided

Clarence Thomas and his wife, Jenny, with all sorts of vacations, trips on Crowe's yacht.

Pro-publica estimated that one trip alone in 2019 would have been worth $500,000. And

the catch was that Thomas had never reported any of this on his financial disclosure forms.

So Judiciary Chair Dick Durbin has asked Chief Justice John Roberts to appear at a public

hearing on May 2nd. What can we expect from this?

Durbin's letter to the Chief Justice told the Chief Justice that he was not expected to

answer questions about other matters besides ethics of the court could be read to say that

he won't be asked about Clarence Thomas. It's hard to believe, though, that if Justice

Roberts appears before the Judiciary Panel, that they would not ask him about Clarence Thomas,

because several Democrats not only have called for ethics reform on the Supreme Court,

...