Clarence Thomas’ billionaire buddy Harlan Crow is refusing to answer the Senate’s questions about his years of gaudy gift-giving to the Supreme Court justice. In fact, his lawyers are arguing that Congress doesn’t have the authority to investigate their relationship at all. “After careful consideration, we do not believe the Committee has the authority to investigate Mr. Crow’s personal friendship with Justice Clarence Thomas,” Crow’s legal team said in a letter Monday to the Senate Judiciary Committee. They also claimed that Congress “is not authorized to conduct an ethics investigation of a Supreme Court Justice” and that trying to regulate the court’s ethics “would be unconstitutional.” Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL), chairman of the committee, disagrees. “Harlan Crow believes the secrecy of his lavish gifts to Justice Thomas is more important than the reputation of the highest court of law in this land,” Durbin said in a statement. “He is wrong.”