Critics are responding to retired Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer‘s remarks voicing support for his embattled “friend,” Justice Clarence Thomas, who allegedly hid possibly millions of dollars of luxury gifts over the course of decades from a billionaire conservative megadonor.
Justice Thomas, according to investigations from ProPublica, wrongly and possibly unlawfully did not disclose at least hundreds of thousands of dollars of travel on private planes and a yacht, vacations at the billionaire’s homes, clothing, and food. He also failed to disclose that same billionaire, who reportedly has ties to organizations with business before the court, purchased Thomas’ mother’s home for an elevated price, allowing her to stay in the home rent free.
Breyer, at a federal circuit court conference in Boston, told attendees when asked that Justice Thomas is “a friend of mine” and a “man of integrity,” as he also denounced efforts to strengthen ethics standards for the nation’s top jurists, according to Bloomberg Law.
“As far as I’m concerned, I sat next to him on the bench for 28 years. I like him. He’s a friend of mine. I’ve never seen him do anything underhanded or say anything underhanded,” Breyer said.
READ MORE: ‘Clarence Thomas Should Be Subpoenaed’ Says Top Democrat as Senate Plans Hearing
“’My personal point of view is he’s a man of integrity,’ Breyer told attendees at the US Court of Appeals for the First Circuit event.”
The event coincidentally was held the same day as U.S. Senate Judiciary Chairman Dick Durbin sent a strongly-worded invitation to Chief Justice John Roberts, urging him to formally testify before the Committee on the “decade-long” ethics challenges the Supreme Court justices have created.
PBS NewsHour Supreme Court analyst Marcia Coyle interviewed Breyer on stage, and asked about Supreme Court ethics.
“Breyer acknowledged that the justices can make mistakes, but pushed back on the criticism that the Supreme Court does nothing on ethics,” Bloomberg reports. “Breyer said if an issue comes up, he views it as ‘whatever applies to all the judges applies to me.’”
Breyer apparently pushed back against a code of ethics for the Supreme Court, noting that if a justice recuses themself, unlike lower courts, there is no justice who can take their place.
Critics are blasting Justice Breyer for playing defense for the challenged Thomas.
The Nation’s justice correspondent Elie Mystal asked, “what was Breyer gonna say?”
READ MORE: Clarence Thomas Claimed Up to $750k From Real Estate Firm That Shut Down in 2006: Report
Mockingly, he offered this sardonic response: “I sat next to him for 28 years and, man, the stories I could tell. Crazy stuff, man. We’d be hearing a case and he’d lean over and say ‘That litigant they’re paid for this watch. It’s nice. I can hook you up.’ Crazy stuff.”
“I thought about telling somebody, maybe the chief, about all the underhanded stuff I saw Thomas do while sitting in open court,” added Mystal, continuing to pretend to quote Breyer. “But I didn’t. Maybe that was wrong, I don’t know. But the truth of the matter is: the watch really was very nice.”
MSNBC columnist and editor James Downie offered this insight into Justice Breyer: “A reminder that, while on the court, Breyer was one of three justices to trade individual stocks. Even Thomas doesn’t do that, so far as we know. And Breyer failed to recuse himself in multiple cases where he owned stock in one of the parties,: he wrote, pointing to a report from the nonpartisan group Fix the Court.
“The problem with Supreme Court justices, both current and former, is that their prestige and power all flows from the false perception that the Supreme Court is a noble institution that isn’t run by partisan hacks,” said Vox’s Ian Millhiser, who has written two books on the Supreme Court.
“I’ll say this for Breyer: He’s really strengthened my suspicion that the rot is institutional and that we should be prepared to learn that other Justices have corrupt arrangements with the plutocratic class,” offered attorney and writer Luppe B. Lupin.
Former U.S. Attorney Joyce Vance wrote: “I’d like to cross examine the witness to get his opinion on each item that has come to light: vacations, house sales, failures to disclosure, income claimed from closed businesses. Are these all okay? Still a man of integrity? Asking for a concerned country.”
Writer and editor Jay Willis blasted Breyer: “Even if condemnation of Thomas is too much to expect from Breyer, even a simple ‘the allegations are very serious and I hope my colleagues or the Senate take steps to protect the Court’s integrity’ would be a million times better than this treacly horseshit.”