The U.S. judiciary has turned down a request from Democratic lawmakers to refer Justice Clarence Thomas for a Department of Justice investigation over claims that he “willfully” flouted ethics rules, a judiciary official stated Thursday.

“There is reason to doubt that the [Judicial] Conference has any such authority,” wrote Judge Robert J. Conrad Jr., director of the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, in a letter to Democratic lawmakers Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island and Rep. Henry "Hank" Johnson of Georgia.