ProPublica’s latest report into Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas‘ lavish billionaire-funded lifestyle has again forced experts to allege he violated federal law as some call for the embattled jurist to resign or be impeached.
“During his three decades on the Supreme Court, Clarence Thomas has enjoyed steady access to a lifestyle most Americans can only imagine,” ProPublica’s report, published Thursday morning, begins. “A cadre of industry titans and ultrawealthy executives have treated him to far-flung vacations aboard their yachts, ushered him into the premium suites at sporting events and sent their private jets to fetch him — including, on more than one occasion, an entire 737. It’s a stream of luxury that is both more extensive and from a wider circle than has been previously understood.”
ProPublica’s Jesse Eisinger posted this graphic detailing just a portion of the massive revelations:
Legal experts, including lawmakers with law degrees, and other experts, are responding to the bombshell report and calling for Justice Thomas to resign or be impeached.
Attorney and U.S. Rep. Ted Lieu (D-CA) writes, “Justice Thomas has brought shame upon himself and the United States Supreme Court with his acceptance of massive, repeated and undisclosed gifts. No government official, elected or unelected, could ethically or legally accept gifts of that scale. He should resign immediately.”
Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist David Cay Johnston, who specializes in tax issues and economics, pointed to this CNN report on ProPublica’s reporting and declares, “Thomas is a crook, plain and simple.”
“Turns out Clarence Thomas has multiple sugar daddies,” charges former New York State Assistant Attorney General Tristan Snell, who prosecuted the Trump University case.
He lists Thomas’ 38 luxury vacations, 26 private jet flights, 12 VIP sport events, and 8 helicopter flights from the ProPublica report and concludes: “All from elite right-wing donors who successfully bought a Supreme Court justice and the influence that comes with that.”
Slate’s legal analyst Mark Joseph Stern, author of a book on the Roberts Supreme Court, serves up perhaps the most comprehensive legal take on the latest ProPublica investigation into Justice Thomas.
“Clarence Thomas violated federal ethics law by refusing to disclose a lot of these gifts. But even if he hadn’t—is this really the kind of thing we want federal judges to do? Does anyone seriously think this is good behavior from a public servant?” Stern asks. He says, “there is no remotely plausible argument that these gifts fall under the ‘hospitality’ exception to federal disclosure laws, which covers only ‘food, lodging, and entertainment.’ Clarence Thomas is a serial lawbreaker.”
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Stern concludes, “I think Chief Justice Roberts is going to be legitimately angry to learn that Clarence Thomas was literally selling access to the Supreme Court.”
Former President and Director-Counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund (LDF), Sherrilyn Ifill writes: “This is a crisis & we need to start treating it as such. Our profession, the Senate Judiciary Committee, newspaper editorial boards, & the Chief will need to summon the courage needed to call for what, by now, should be the obvious next step.”
Alex Aronson, former former chief counsel to U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, writes: “Just staggering levels of grift, corruption, and lawbreaking by a nominal public servant who wields tremendous power over all our lives. Clarence Thomas should resign, or be impeached.”
Attorney and U.S. Rep. Summer Lee (D-PA) says on social media, “If a new corruption scandal is coming to light about you every single day of the week that ends in the word ‘day’, you probably shouldn’t be a supreme court justice with a lifetime appointment that has no code of conduct. Looking at you Clarence Thomas…👀”
Former Clinton Cabinet Secretary Robert Reich says, “New reporting shows Clarence Thomas secretly took even more gifts from billionaires,” and warns Thomas “must resign or be impeached if SCOTUS is going to retain any credibility.”
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