It looks like Justice Clarence Thomas might have actually gone too far with his apparent ethics violations. Even Republicans are starting to publicly question whether the gay-hating 74-year-old could maybe perhaps just possibly be contributing to the reason why a growing number of Americans say they’ve lost trust in our institutions.
It was recently exposed that Thomas accepted thousands and thousands and thousands of dollars worth of luxury travel and hospitality, including rides on private jets and superyachts, plus other lavish gifts from billionaire Republican donor Harlan Crow.
And he did it all under the radar without telling anyone.
Related:
Clarence Thomas wastes literally no time using Roe decision to attack gay rights
Thomas said the court should now reconsider rulings that protect same-sex marriage, same-sex relationships, and contraception.
Thomas also failed to report that he sold three properties to Crow in Savannah, Georgia back in 2014. Oh, and he forgot to mention that Crow has been letting Thomas’ 94-year-old mother live on one of his properties rent-free for the last decade.
We can’t help but wonder: What else hasn’t Justice Thomas reported???
All of this, many Democrats say, is “a direct violation” of U.S. law and is only further eroding public trust in the Supreme Court. Amazingly, some Republicans actually seem to be agreeing with them. Sort of.
“I think we are moving dangerously close to a place where the public has lost faith and trust in the credibility of our governing institutions. They don’t trust the court, I don’t think what’s going on with Justice Thomas is helping anything,” Lisa Murkowski told reporters this week.
She added, “I think there have been some recent rulings that have rattled people and their confidence in the impartiality of our process that [judicial nominees] go through for confirmation. We’re losing–I don’t know–credibility in our systems.”
Related:
Josh Hawley says Clarence Thomas is a victim of misogyny and we’re all a little dumber now
Hawley went on CNN to express his outrage over people calling on Justice Thomas to recuse himself from any cases related to January 6 or the 2024 election after it was revealed his wife took part in a perceived plot to overthrow democracy.
Ted Cruz concurred, although, in the same breath, he also accused Democrats of using Thomas’ improper behavior to lodge a “smear campaign” against the justice.
“I think the topic of judicial ethics is certainly an appropriate topic for the Judiciary Committee,” he said, adding “I don’t think that’s actually what Senate Democrats are interested in.”
Meanwhile, Susan Collins expressed her usual concern about the whole thing, saying that when she first heard Thomas had accepted such luxurious gifts from Crow, “my reaction was that I wondered what the judicial practices were in this area.”
“I know that personal hospitality is exempt and that he has known the Crow family for a long time, they’re personal friends, but that doesn’t usually extend to the use of airplanes to pick up someone to bring someone to a site,” she said.
The 1978 Ethics in Government Act is crystal clear about this. It states that all high-level government officials, including Supreme Court justices, must disclose things like transportation and travel, as well as real estate transactions other than the property used as their personal residence.
Thomas failed to do this.
Related:
Trump basically just asked Clarence Thomas for a bro job and it looks like it’s gonna happen
With Ginni’s blessing, of course.
Now that he’s been caught, Thomas reportedly plans to amend his financial disclosure documents to include the 2014 real estate transactions he made with Crow… nearly 10 years after the fact.
Dems are calling on Chief Justice John Roberts to investigate the matter as well as demanding tighter ethics codes for Supreme Court justices to prevent it from happening again in the future. Some are going as far as to call for Thomas to resign (never gonna happen), or be impeached (also highly unlikely), or be referred to the attorney general for potential ethics violations (keep dreaming, unfortunately).
Meanwhile, here’s what folx on Twitter are saying about the whole thing…
DBMC
No one should be surprised at how corrupt he is. The Supreme Court always seemed to fly under the radar up until the Dobbs decision. We should have been paying attention long before this.
woodroad34
Back in the early 2000s, there was a big scandal with Cheney and Scalia. Cheney had a case in front of the Court, but he was always going “duck hunting” with his close friend “Tony from the Hood”. When a big to-do was brought up about his impartiality towards Cheney, Scalia wouldn’t recuse himself and, in fact, said that people in power always mingled together and it was absurd to think he couldn’t be impartial (in fact, he seemed ‘offended’ by the notion). Guess what, both Scalia and Thomas voted in favor of Cheney. Didn’t help, Cheney lost his case.
abfab
Have you seen the little piggies
Crawling in the dirt?
And for all the little piggies
Life is getting worse,
Always having dirt to play around in
Have you seen the bigger piggies
In their starched white shirts?
You will find the bigger piggies
Stirring up the dirt,
Always have clean shirts to play around in
In their styes with all their backing
They don’t care what goes on around
In their eyes there’s something lacking
What they need’s a damn good whacking
Everywhere there’s lots of piggies
Living piggy lives
You can see them out for dinner
With their piggy wives
Clutching forks and knives to eat the bacon
One more time
-George Harrison
Stan H
I am sure that Clarence Thomas is thinking that this is “A high tech lynching for an uppity black”
Matthewnow
He played the race card to get his job. His kunt wife is a wet turd. I feel safe sleeping at night.
Jim
SCOTUS
They’re not ethical
They don’t have to be.
Kangol2
Don’t forget Uncle Clarence Tom claimed he earned $750,000 from a company that ceased existing years ago.
Or, as Salon put it: “Clarence Thomas caught reporting up to $750,000 in income from company that doesn’t exist: report”
He is a corrupt, right-wing lackey and should be impeached, as well as tried for violating the law. How can anyone respect the decisions of a court consisting of someone who has utter disregard for the law and ethics?
GlobeTrotter
Much ado about nothing. How the hell is a simple high court judge supposed to know what’s illegal and what’s not?
abfab
LOL!
Stan H
He is Uncle Thomas
dwick
Susan Collins makes me gag
Fahd
The current U.S. Supreme Court has a majority made up of a bunch of Republican political hacks. It will be that way for a few decades. Hell in a handbasket…..
abfab
I think most of us are well aware of that.
GayEGO
Clary Thomas should be expelled from SCOTUS!