{"id":26062,"date":"2023-04-21T11:41:04","date_gmt":"2023-04-21T18:41:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=26062"},"modified":"2023-04-21T11:41:05","modified_gmt":"2023-04-21T18:41:05","slug":"critics-say-new-revelations-in-judicial-record-bolster-case-for-thomas-impeachment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2023\/04\/21\/critics-say-new-revelations-in-judicial-record-bolster-case-for-thomas-impeachment\/","title":{"rendered":"Critics Say New Revelations in Judicial Record Bolster Case for Thomas Impeachment"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Associate<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Associate U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas poses for the official photo at the Supreme Court in Washington, D.C. on October 7, 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00a0(Photo by Olivier Douliery\/AFP via Getty Images)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The lack of options for real accountability highlights why we so desperately need robust judicial ethics reform\u2014now,” said one ethics watchdog.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

JULIA CONLEY<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Apr 20, 2023 (CommonDreams.org)<\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Calls for impeachment proceedings against U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas intensified Thursday amid new reporting that revealed several specific conflicts of interest related to the justice’s financial ties to right-wing real estate magnate and Republican donor Harlan Crow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Following a bombshell report<\/a> by ProPublica<\/em> earlier this month regarding trips Thomas took<\/a> on Crow’s private jet, his superyacht, and to his properties in New York and Texas which had not been included in financial disclosures as required by federal law, the conservative justice brushed off criticism by saying he benefited only from “personal hospitality from close personal friends” and that Crow “did not have business before the court.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While also denying any ethics breaches, Crow, who has donated at least $13 million to Republican politicians, acknowledged<\/a> in an interview with The<\/em>Dallas Morning News <\/em>that “every single relationship… has some kind of reciprocity.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The truth of that admission became clearer Thursday as The Guardian <\/em>reported<\/a> on findings in the judicial record, which showed Crow’s ties to right-wing groups that have been involved in Supreme Court cases since Thomas was first confirmed to the bench in 1991.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Texas billionaire was part of anti-taxation group Club for Growth’s “founders committee,” which helped direct its policymaking, in 2003 when the group filed an amicus brief challenging the McCain-Feingold Act, a campaign finance reform law.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“DOJ is the only agency positioned to truly hold Thomas accountable, because Thomas’s conduct is more than unethical\u2014it’s likely criminal.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thomas wrote a blistering dissent when the court permitted the law to stand against the wishes of Club for Growth and other right-wing groups. As The Guardian<\/em> reported, at this point Crow had already “showered Thomas with several lavish gifts” including “a 1997 flight<\/a> from Washington to northern California on Crow’s private jet to attend an all-male retreat at Bohemian Grove” and a $150,000 donation to create a wing dedicated to the justice at a library in Savannah, Georgia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Crow also held seats<\/a> on the boards of at least three right-wing organizations that have written amicus briefs in Supreme Court cases; is a longtime trustee of the conservative American Enterprise Institute, which has filed numerous supporting briefs; and is on the board of the Hoover Institution, which filed an amicus brief challenging student debt relief.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thomas’ involvement with Crow raises questions not only about whether the billionaire has “business before the court,” said <\/a>Democratic Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.). “Nowadays it’s consorting with those… whose business is<\/em> the court\u2014who are deeply enmeshed in the efforts to capture and corrupt the court.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Several progressives have demanded that Thomas be impeached as the latest alleged ethics breach has come to light\u2014amid ongoing outcry regarding the justice’s refusal to recuse himself<\/a> from cases involving the January 6, 2021 insurrection and the 2020 election, which his wife, right-wing activist Ginni Thomas, pushed to overturn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Following Thursday’s revelations, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) doubled down on a call for an investigation into Thomas both by the Supreme Court and by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“DOJ is the only agency positioned to truly hold Thomas accountable, because Thomas’ conduct is more than unethical\u2014it’s likely criminal,” said CREW.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The group acknowledged that “accountability through the legal system in this case is likely to be slow and limited,” and suggested Congress hold impeachment proceedings against Thomas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But it\u2019s been more than 200 years since a Supreme Court justice was impeached, and even if Thomas\u2019s scandals are investigated and warrant impeachment and removal, Congress is exceedingly unlikely to act.<\/p>— Citizens for Ethics (@CREWcrew) April 20, 2023<\/a><\/blockquote>