Democrats are calling for an investigation into Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas after media reports about his trips with Harlan Crow, a GOP megadonor. Thomas defended his relationship with Crow as “personal hospitality from close personal friends.”
Summary
Democrats are calling for an investigation into Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas after media reports about his trips with Harlan Crow, a GOP megadonor. Thomas defended his relationship with Crow as “personal hospitality from close personal friends.”
- A ProPublica investigation into Thomas’ relationship with Crowe found that “For more than two decades, Thomas has accepted luxury trips virtually every year from the Dallas businessman without disclosing them, documents and interviews show.”
- Joshua Kaplan, Justin Elliott and Alex Mierjeski conclude, “His failure to report the flights appears to violate a law passed after Watergate that requires justices, judges, members of Congress and federal officials to disclose most gifts, two ethics law experts said. He also should have disclosed his trips on the yacht, these experts said.”
- Thomas defended his decision not to disclose the vacations as part of his yearly financial disclosure. “Harlan and Kathy Crow are among our dearest friends, and we have been friends for over twenty-five years,” He said in the statement. “As friends do, we have joined them on a number of family trips during the more than quarter century we have known them.”
- “Early in my tenure at the Court, I sought guidance from my colleagues and others in the judiciary, and was advised that this sort of personal hospitality from close personal friends, who did not have business before the Court, was not reportable,” Thomas added. “I have endeavored to follow that counsel throughout my tenure, and have always sought to comply with the disclosure guidelines.”
- Sixteen Congressional Democrats have called on Chief Justice John Roberts to launch an investigation into Thomas for “allegations of unethical, and potentially unlawful, conduct.”
- Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez went one step further and demanded Thomas be impeached in an interview with CNN on Sunday.
- In a CNN interview, Ocasio-Cortez said it was “the House’s responsibility to pursue that investigation in the form of impeachment.” She added, “I believe that we should pursue the course. And if it is Republicans that decide to protect those who are breaking the law, then they are the ones who then are responsible for that decision.”
- The New York Times reported that Thomas will “comply with new guidelines adopted by the Judicial Conference of the United States, the policymaking body for the federal courts. The rules, adopted last month, require the justices to disclose travel by private jet and stays in commercial properties like resorts.”
- Slate went so far as to claim “Clarence Thomas broke the law and it isn’t even close.” Dahlia Lithwick and Mark Joseph Stern conclude “Thomas broke the law, a law which contains serious civil penalties, though the bogus technicality on which he relies, in addition to his political clout, will be more than enough to ensure that he never faces any actual legal consequences.”
- Jonah Goldberg, Editor-in-Chief of The Dispatch, defended Crow on his podcast. On the latest episode of “The Remnant with Jonah Goldberg,” he gave his thoughts on the controversy and commended Crow as a “deeply honorable, decent, and patriotic person.”
- Fox News covered the growing number of Democrats calling for an investigation into Clarence Thomas. Sixteen lawmakers sent a letter to Chief Justice John Marshall calling for an inquiry, including Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island and Rep. Hank Johnson of Georgia.
- The Wall Street Journal Editorial Board condemned the “smearing of Clarence Thomas” as “another phony ethics assault to tarnish the Supreme Court.” The editorial summarized the controversy as “Clarence Thomas has a rich friend who has hosted the Justice on his private plane, his yacht, and his vacation resort. That’s it. That’s the story. Yet this non-bombshell has triggered breathless claims that the Court must be investigated, and that Justice Thomas must resign or be impeached.”
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© Dominic Moore, 2023
