Conservative billionaire Harlan Crow responded Monday night to a request from Senate judiciary committee Democrats for more details about gifts hes given to Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas that have not been disclosed.

Crows response? Im not telling you anything.

After careful consideration, we do not believe the Committee has the authority to investigate Mr. Crows personal friendship with Justice Clarence Thomas, reads a letter from Crows lawyer, Michael Bopp of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP.

Most importantly, Congress does not have the constitutional power to impose ethics rules and standards on the Supreme Court, the letter continues. Doing so would exceed Congresss Article I authority and violate basic separation of powers principles. That precludes the Committee from pursuing an investigation in support of such legislation.

Heres a copy of Crows letter, first obtained by HuffPost:

Democrats on the Senate committee, led by Chairman Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), demanded earlier this month that Crow provide them with a list of all gifts in excess of $415 that he has given to Supreme Court justices. Their letter came in response to ProPublicas bombshell report last month that Thomas has been accepting luxury trips and gifts from Crow virtually every year for more than two decades without disclosing them.

Crow also purchased Thomas ancestral home from the justice, renovated it, and now reportedly allows Thomas mother to live there rent-free. In addition, Crow paid private school tuition for Thomas grandnephew , whom Thomas treated as his adopted son. Thomas failed to disclose both the sale of his familys home and his adopted sons covered tuition.

Amid all of this, Crow has had business interests before the court .

In a Tuesday statement, Durbin lambasted the GOP megadonors response to the committee, calling it untenable and saying it does not provide a credible justification for Crows failure to respond to senators written questions.

The gifts and access to Justices that these companies provided are highly relevant to the Committees legislative efforts on ethics reform, Durbin said.

The Illinois senator also rejected Crows claim that Congress lacks the authority to pass ethics legislation that applies to Supreme Court justices, and mocked the idea that Crow doesnt need to provide information to the panel because its a separation-of-powers issue.

Mr. Crow does not work, and has never worked, for the Supreme Court, said Durbin.

He added: The Committee will respond more fully to this letter in short order, and will continue to seek a substantive response to our information requests in order to craft and advance the targeted ethics legislation needed to help restore trust in the Supreme Court.