Category: Clarence Thomas

Senate Judiciary panel advances Supreme Court ethics reform bill  

Posted on (Updated by Alexander Bolton

The Senate Judiciary Committee voted along party lines after a more-than-three-hour markup Thursday to advance a Supreme Court ethics reform bill in the wake of media reports that conservative Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito accepted tens of thousands of dollars’ worth of gifts and perks from wealthy Republican donors.  

The committee voted 11 to 10 to approve the Supreme Court Ethics, Recusal and Transparency Act, which would require justices to adopt a code of conduct and create a transparent process for members of the public to submit ethics complaints against members of the court.  

Every Democratic member of the committee voted for the reforms while every Republican voted no. 

The bill would also require the Supreme Court to adopt disclosure rules for gifts, travel and income received by justices and law clerks that are as rigorous as Senate and House disclosure rules. 

It would establish a panel of chief judges from the lower courts to investigate and make recommendations in response to complaints and require greater disclosure of funding behind amicus curiae briefs to the court.  

Senate Republicans filed 61 amendments to the legislation to drag out the Judiciary Committee’s markup for several hours. The panel ended up voting on fewer than a dozen of them. 

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), the ranking member of the panel, accused Democrats of trying to “destroy” the court in retaliation for recent landmark decisions by the court’s conservative majority to overturn the constitutional right to abortion, to reject the affirmative action policies at Harvard University and the University of North Carolina and invalidate President Biden’s student loan relief program.  

“What you’re trying to do is not improve the court, you’re trying to destroy it as it exists,” he told his Democratic colleagues on the panel.  

“You have to look at this in terms of what’s been going on for a couple years,” he said, pointing to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s (D-N.Y.) warning to conservative Supreme Court justices in a rally held outside the court in March of 2020 that they would “pay the price” for ruling in favor of abortion restrictions. 

Schumer later clarified that he never intended to suggest anything other than political and public opinion consequences for the Supreme Court if it restricted abortion rights. 

Graham also accused Democrats of wanting to expand the Supreme Court to dilute the influence of conservative justices.  

“You have done just about everything there is to do to delegitimize this court,” he said. “Members of the Democratic leadership went to the steps of the Supreme Court and literally threatened people.” 

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) rejected that accusation.  

“Some have suggested that Democrats are pursuing Supreme Court ethics reform to target the court’s current right-wing majority. Far from it. The reforms we are proposing would apply in equal force to all justices,” he said.  

Durbin noted that he first urged Chief Justice John Roberts 11 years ago, when the composition of the court was much different, to adopt a binding code of conduct. 

“Unfortunately, he did not accept my suggestion. Since then as more and more stories have emerged of justices’ ethical lapses, the American people’s confidence in the Supreme Court has dropped to an all-time low,” Durbin said.  

ProPublica reported in April that Thomas accepted gifts of private plane travel and luxury vacations from Republican megadonor Harlan Crow over two decades without disclosing them publicly.  

More from The Hill

The outlet also reported that Thomas didn’t disclose that one of Crow’s companies bought a property in Savannah, Ga., where Thomas’s mother lives and in which the justice owned a third interest. 

Another ProPublica report revealed that Crow paid for the private school tuition for Thomas’s teenage grandnephew, whom Thomas said he was raising “as a son.”  

ProPublica reported last month that Alito accepted a vacation at a luxury fishing lodge in Alaska in 2008 paid for by conservative donors and didn’t disclose it publicly.  

Alito traveled to the lodge aboard a private jet owned by hedge fund billionaire Paul Singer and six years later ruled in a case, Republic of Argentina v. NML Capital, that resulted in Singer’s hedge fund recouping a $2.4 billion payout. 

Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), a member of the panel, argued Thursday that Thomas’s wife, Ginni, a conservative activist, accepted payments from groups with business before the court that were not properly disclosed. 

“How is it that you can have a Supreme Court justice who does not recuse himself when his wife is involved in the very issue that is before him?” she said. “Those kinds of examples really raise the question of why the Supreme Court shouldn’t have a code of ethics.” 

More recently, liberal Justice Sonia Sotomayor came under criticism after The Associated Press reported that the her staff pushed colleges and a library to purchase copies of her book when she was scheduled to speak at their sponsored events. 

Democrats voted along party lines to defeat Republican amendments to the bill, including one sponsored by Graham to empower the Supreme Court’s police force to investigate threats to justices and another by Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) to allow judges to carry guns for self-protection without restriction by state and local laws.  

Durbin argued that the Department of Justice and FBI already has the job of investigating threats against justices and voiced concerns that expanding the mission of the Supreme Court’s relatively small police force would overtax it and require additional resources.  

Durbin and other Democrats argued that Cornyn’s gun proposal wasn’t relevant to Supreme Court ethics reform. Cornyn argued that arming justices would protect them from potential attackers motivated by criticism of their decisions and ideology.  

Democrats also defeated an amendment sponsored by Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) to delay the implementation of the Supreme Court ethics reform bill until Congress learns who leaked a draft of the court’s opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which overturned the constitutional right to an abortion.  

Durbin said Blackburn’s proposal wouldn’t do anything to address the “crisis of confidence” in the court. 

The committee adopted an amendment sponsored by Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) to condemn denigrating rhetoric used against Thomas or any justice. Republicans who supported the amendment cited several examples of Democratic officials using such rhetoric to criticize Thomas.  

—Updated at 4:50 p.m.

Supreme Court Deals Major Blow To Texas, Louisiana In Deportation Lawsuit

Posted on by The Center Square

By Bethany Blankley (The Center Square)

The U.S. Supreme Court dealt a major blow to Texas and Louisiana Friday in a lawsuit over a Biden administration policy that’s helped effectively end most deportations of foreign nationals in the U.S. illegally.

Rather than rule on the merits of the case, in United States v. Texas, the court ruled 8-1 that the states didn’t have standing, or a legal right, to challenge the policy.

Justice Samuel Alito wrote the sole dissent, arguing the justices ignored “a major precedent.”

He wrote:

“The Court holds Texas lacks standing to challenge a federal policy that inflicts substantial harm on the State and its residents by releasing illegal aliens with criminal convictions for serious crimes.

In order to reach this conclusion, the Court brushes aside a major precedent that directly controls the standing question, refuses to apply our established test for standing, disregards factual findings made by the District Court after a trial, and holds that the only limit on the power of a President to disobey a law like the important provision at issue is Congress’s power to employ the weapons of inter-branch warfare – withholding funds, impeachment and removal, etc. I would not blaze this unfortunate trail. I would simply apply settled law, which leads ineluctably to the conclusion that Texas has standing.”

Last June, a federal judge in Texas, U.S. District Judge Drew Tipton, ruled in favor of Texas and Louisiana, arguing they would incur costs due to the federal government’s failure to comply with federal immigration law and deportation policies. The judge ruled the states had standing to sue because of these costs. He also vacated the deportation policy, arguing it was unlawful.

The Biden administration appealed to the Fifth Circuit, which again handed a victory to the states by declining to stay the lower court’s ruling. The Biden administration appealed to the Supreme Court, which granted cert. Last fall, the court heard oral arguments and on Friday ruled the states lacked Article III standing.

Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote for the majority and was joined by Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, and Ketanji Brown Jackson. Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote a different opinion saying the states didn’t have standing for a different reason than the one Kavanaugh gave. He was joined by Justices Clarence Thomas and Amy Coney Barrett. Barrett also wrote her own concurring opinion and was joined by Gorsuch.

Related: Feds Catch More Than 460 Known, Suspected Terrorists In Nine Months, Most At Northern Border

At issue is a final memorandum, “Guidelines for the Enforcement of Civil Immigration Law,” issued by Department of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas, drastically altering deportation policies, including limiting issuing detainer requests for dangerous criminal aliens.

In Mayorkas’ final September 2021 memorandum, he also challenged federal law established by Congress that illegal entry is a crime in itself and a deportable offense. The policy states: “The fact an individual is a removable noncitizen therefore should not alone be the basis of an enforcement action against them. We will use our discretion and focus our enforcement resources in a more targeted way. Justice and our country’s well-being require it.”

Many news organizations reported the Supreme Court ruling would allow the administration to prioritize deporting violent criminals. But under the current administration, deportations immediately dropped by two-thirds in the first fiscal year of the administration, according to CBP data. In fiscal 2021, deportations also dropped to the lowest level since fiscal 1996 despite record-high illegal entries.

Mayorkas’ policy also followed President Joe Biden’s directive, who after taking office ordered a “pause” on deportations.

Related: Illegal Border Crossers So Far This Year Outnumber The Population Of 8 States

Last July, 19 attorneys general filed an amicus brief expressing support for Texas’ and Louisiana’s lawsuit, arguing Mayorkas violated federal law and DHS’s actions negatively impacted their states and jeopardized the safety and welfare of Americans.

The AGs argued, and still maintain, “The Amici States and their citizens continue to suffer significant costs from illegal immigration – including billions of dollars in new expenses relating to law enforcement, education, and healthcare programs – as a direct result of Defendants’ failures to enforce immigration law. Those harms are exacerbated by DHS’ increasingly brazen disrespect for the requirements of our nation’s immigration laws and the Administrative Procedure Act.

“The border is in crisis,” they argued. “This DHS Administration is lawless. And the States continue to suffer escalating irreparable harm as the border crisis continually intensifies to successive, ever-more unprecedented levels of illegal crossings.”

Syndicated with permission from The Center Square.

The post Supreme Court Deals Major Blow To Texas, Louisiana In Deportation Lawsuit appeared first on The Political Insider.

GOP senators want Roberts to take action on Supreme Court

Posted on (Updated by Alexander Bolton

Republican senators are leaning on Chief Justice John Roberts to do something about the Supreme Court's appearance problem in the wake of reports that conservative Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito accepted luxury vacations from conservative donors.  

While Republicans don’t support Supreme Court ethics reform legislation sponsored by Democrats, they think the reports that Thomas and Alito accepted expensive vacations funded by wealthy donors has created a real public relations problem for the court. 

These lawmakers want Roberts to take the issue of legislation out of Congress’s hands by issuing a judicial code of ethics or some other updated statement of principles for he and his fellow justices.  

“I think it would be helpful for the court to up its game. I don’t want Congress to start micromanaging the court but I think confidence-building would be had if they were more clear on some of this stuff,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham (S.C.), the top-ranking Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee.

ProPublica this week reported that Alito flew on a private plane owned by hedge fund billionaire Paul Singer to a luxury fishing lodge in Alaska in 2008.  

Alito later decided not to recuse himself from a 2014 case that pitted the Republic of Argentina against American creditors, including Singer. Singer’s hedge fund ultimately gained a $2.4 billion payout after the Supreme Court ruled 7-1 in its favor. 

Alito explained in a Wall Street Journal op-ed that he did not include the private flight to the King Salmon fishing lodge on his financial disclosure reports because he viewed it as personal hospitality exempt from disclosure requirements. 

Graham had previously called on Roberts to address criticism of the Supreme Court’s ethics policies after ProPublica reported earlier this year that Thomas had accepted luxury trips and other perks from Republican megadonor Harlan Crow over the course of two decades — none of which Thomas had included in financial disclosures.

ProPublica reported that Crow paid the tuition for Thomas’s grand-nephew at a private boarding school and that one of Crow’s companies bought a house in which Thomas had a one-third financial interest.  

Graham told The Hill in April that the court should adopt new ethical guidelines.

“A lot of us are really leery of micromanaging the other branch, but I think that’s where the court is headed. At least that’s where I hope they are,” he said at the time. 

“The reason we have these [ethics] rules on our side [of government] is to make sure people feel confident, and I think that’s where the court is headed.”   

It’s unclear if Roberts could get his fellow justices to agree on any new course of action. But it’s clearly becoming a growing concern for some Republicans.

“I think that the nine justices need to get on the same page,” said Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), a member of the Judiciary Committee. “I believe the Article III branch should address concerns amongst themselves without congressional intervention. 

“I think it’s a process that the justices should go through and get consensus,” he added. “The chief justice can’t do it on his own.”  

Asked if he thinks the Supreme Court has a public perception problem, Tillis said, “I do.” 

“I think it’s time to show progress,” he said.  

Roberts told an audience at the American Law Institute on May 23 that he and his fellow justices are working to reassure the public that it adheres to “the highest standards of conduct.”  

“We are continuing to look at things we can do to give practical effect to that commitment. And I am confident that there are ways to do that consistent with our status as an independent branch of government and the Constitution’s separations of powers,” he said. 

Yet a month later, the court hasn’t made any new announcement about its ethical rules or procedures.  

Tillis thinks Roberts is having trouble getting all nine members of the high court to agree on how to address concerns about its conduct and adherence to ethical guidelines.

“If you had nine justices saying, 'We need to address this,' then they would be doing something. So logic tells me maybe there’s not consensus,” he said. “They need to sort it out. It’s their institution; they should preserve the integrity.”

Asked about Alito’s fishing trip, Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), another Judiciary Committee member, said, "All of us need to be concerned about the public confidence in the courts, but this is not something that Congress has the authority over.” 

“This is something that the court itself needs to come to grips with. I hope that John Roberts will do that,” he said. “I understand they’re still working on a review of their ethics policy.” 

Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (R.I.), a key subcommittee chairman, announced Wednesday that they will mark up Supreme Court ethics legislation after the July 4 recess, but so far only one Republican, Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), has sponsored a Supreme Court ethics reform bill.  

Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) told reporters Wednesday that Congress needs to “stay out” of the court’s business.  

Brian Fallon, the executive director of Demand Justice, a progressive advocacy group that favors Supreme Court reform, said the reports of Alito and Thomas accepting lavish gifts from wealthy donors has put GOP senators in a tough spot.  

“These Republicans are caught between a rock and a hard place. On the one hand, they don’t want to have to cooperate with Democrats on ethics legislation, because it sort of accepts the premise that the Republican justices are behaving corruptly and there’s a need to rein them in,” he said.  

“The second thing is this constant drip, drip, drip of scandals emanating out of the court that is causing the courts to be highly salient politically with the public is making the Republicans’ resistance to ethics legislation look even worse,” Fallon added.  

“The Republican lawmakers are sort of being dragged down with the court, because by running interference for the court on any of these ethics bills, they are attaching themselves to them and they are putting themselves in the position of having to defend every new scandal that comes out about trips that were taken by Clarence Thomas or Sam Alito,” he added. “The obvious solution in their minds is: ‘Roberts, this hot potato belongs in your lap, if you would just self-administer some improved ethics guidelines, then it would take some of the oomph out of these stories.’" 

Carrie Campbell Severino, the president of JCN, a conservative advocacy group that favors “the Founders’ vision of a nation of limited government,” disputed the view that the Supreme Court has an image problem.  

“The only image problem after ProPublica’s recent reporting is ProPublica’s own image attempting to cast completely legal and ethical behavior as somehow wrong,” she said. “Their reporting was absolutely shoddy.”  

Severino said the notion that “Justice Alito’s fishing trip … would have triggered recusal obligations is absurd.”  

“It’s even more absurd that the cases they’re talking about were decided by overwhelming majorities,” she said. “The Argentina case was not even close.” 

ProPublica reported that Severino and JCN filed an amicus brief supporting Singer’s interest in the case, Republic of Argentina v. NML Capital. 

Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.) said she agrees with GOP colleagues who want the court to address the growing criticism of its ethical standards.  

“I certainly believe it’s in the Supreme Court’s and John Roberts’s not only perusal but best interests to address this issue to the satisfaction of the public and use the standards that should apply to anyone in the executive or legislative branch with regard to ethics,” she said. 

While Supreme Court justices are subject to the Ethics in Government Act of 1978, which requires justices to file annual financial disclosure reports, they are not covered by the Code of Conduct for United States Judges, which covers all federal district and appellate courts. 

Roberts included a statement of principles in an April 25 letter to Durbin, noting that Supreme Court justices agreed in 1991 to “follow the substance” of the Judicial Conference Regulations but cautioned they “are broadly worded principles” and “not themselves rules.”  

The Judicial Conference revised its financial disclosure rules in March to specify that judges must disclose nonbusiness stays at resorts, the use of private jets and when gifts of hospitality are reimbursed by a third party.  

Murkowski has co-sponsored a bill with Sen. Angus King (I-Maine) that would require the Supreme Court to establish its own ethics code and appoint an official to review potential conflicts and public complaints.  

But so far, King, the lead sponsor, hasn’t found any other Republicans to sign on to the legislation. 

King told The Hill that he was somewhat surprised that the proposal didn’t muster more bipartisan support since it didn’t prescribe any specific ethical rules for the court. 

Ted Cruz Takes a Sledgehammer to Democrats Calling For Clarence Thomas to Resign: They ‘Hate’ Him Because He’s Black

Posted on by Rusty Weiss

Senator Ed Markey reiterated calls for Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas to resign in a social media posting on Tuesday.

The short tweet reads, “Clarence Thomas must resign.”

Markey (D-MA) is likely the highest-ranking Democrat to date calling for Thomas’ resignation. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) has been very vocal in the past about demanding his ouster, along with a handful of other House members.

The controversy stems from a recent report by the left-leaning outlet Pro Publica alleging billionaire Harlan Crow, a GOP donor, provided trips and gifts to Thomas that were not disclosed.

Following the allegations of impropriety, Thomas explained accurately that the gifts in question were from close personal friends and, as they “did not have business before the Court” it “was not reportable.”

He said he would amend his financial disclosure forms to comply with changes made to disclosure rules that were announced last month.

Markey’s calls for his resignation began last week when he declared the hit job against Thomas was evidence that the Supreme Court Justice’s “reputation is unsalvageable.”

RELATED: Chief Justice John Roberts Tells Democrats to Get Lost After They Request He Testify on Supreme Court Ethics

Ted Cruz Reveals Why Democrats REALLY Want Clarence Thomas to Resign

Senator Ted Cruz, speaking during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Supreme Court Ethics Reform on Tuesday, absolutely tore apart the Democrats’ argument suggesting Clarence Thomas should resign.

“Senate Democrats and their lap dogs in the media are engaged in a two-fold political campaign,” he explained.

“Number one – to delegitimize the Supreme Court of the United States because they are angry that there are a majority of constitutionalists on the court,” added Cruz. “But number two, very directly, this is a political campaign designed to smear Justice Clarence Thomas.”

And the reason behind it is quite simple.

“The Left despises Clarence Thomas, and they do not despise him because he’s a conservative,” Cruz alleges. “The Left despises Clarence Thomas because he is a conservative African American.”

Cruz then made a reference to Thomas’s own remarks at his confirmation hearing over 30 years ago, an effort the Justice described at the time as an attempted “high-tech lynching for uppity blacks” by Democrats.

Cruz ran off a list of other justices who have taken similar trips and accepted gifts in the past, noting there was no outrage or demands for them to resign. There wasn’t even mention of it.

“I would point out Justice Kagan has done the same thing. Justice Sotomayor has done the same thing,” he said. “And yet, none of my Democrat colleagues care, because this is a political attack directed at a justice they hate.”

RELATED: Democrats To Explore Impeachment Options For Conservative Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas

They Hate Him Because He’s Black

None of this is new, of course. The Political Insider reported just over a year ago that Democrats were holding a hearing to explore the possibility of impeachment for Supreme Court justices.

The controversy at that time was over Thomas’s wife Virginia ‘Ginni’ Thomas, who exchanged text messages with then-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows about alleged election fraud after the 2020 election.

If it’s not one manufactured scandal, it’s another. And there will certainly be more down the line.

Why? Because Democrats really hate that Clarence Thomas is the most successful, longest-tenured black Supreme Court justice – and he’s a Constitutional conservative. Demographic elements are supposed to be their platform. That is why Ketanji Brown Jackson was appointed to the Court based almost exclusively on her skin color and gender.

During an interview on Fox News over the weekend, Cruz accused Democrats of having a “special degree of hate” for Thomas because he is a black man.

“Democrats hate Justice Thomas and they save a special degree of hate for him because he is a Black man,” he said. “And their view is that an African American is not allowed to be a conservative [and] is not allowed to disagree with left-wing orthodoxy.”

Clarence Thomas is the longest-serving justice, the second black justice, and the most conservative member currently serving on the Supreme Court.

That’s the true reason he is being targeted.

He is a historic figure who should be celebrated as such.

Markey, meanwhile, is essentially a Squad member in pants and has pushed for such groundbreaking and ‘historic’ legislation as those supporting censorship under the guise of … “algorithmic justice.”

We live in a nation now where great men like Clarence Thomas are ridiculed, despised, and smeared, while people who do little more than come up with phrases designed to dupe the uneducated are celebrated.

“Democrats can have disagreements based on law, but this attempt to delegitimize the court this attempt to personally smear Clarence Thomas is dishonest,” Cruz fired back.

“And everyone in the media echoing it is participating in a shameful reprise of 1991’s high-tech lynching.”

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The post Ted Cruz Takes a Sledgehammer to Democrats Calling For Clarence Thomas to Resign: They ‘Hate’ Him Because He’s Black appeared first on The Political Insider.

Markey calls for Clarence Thomas to resign: ‘reputation is unsalvageable’

Posted on (Updated by Julia Mueller

Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) on Monday called for Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas to resign amid controversy over the justice’s financial disclosures and ethical concerns about the nation’s highest court.

“I will say what needs to be said: Clarence Thomas should resign from the Supreme Court of the United States. His reputation is unsalvageable,” Markey said at an event to advocate for Supreme Court reforms.

“It is evident that he cannot judge right from wrong. So why should he be judging the country's most important cases, on its highest court?” the senator added.

Recent reporting from ProPublica found that Texas billionaire Harlan Crow paid for Thomas to take part in luxury vacations over two decades without the justice reporting them. Thomas said later that he was “advised” he did not need to disclose the trips. 

Another ProPublica report found that Thomas also didn’t disclose a 2014 real estate deal he’d made with the same Republican megadonor. 

Markey joins Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) and a handful of House lawmakers, including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), in calling for Thomas to leave the court after the reports sparked renewed debate over ethics standards for the justices.

“Justice Thomas should resign - to uphold the Court and American justice. The unavoidable, sickening appearance of impropriety stains trust & credibility in our whole judiciary,” Blumenthal said earlier this month.

Ocasio-Cortez said “this degree of corruption is shocking — almost cartoonish” and called for Thomas to be impeached.

Markey on Monday gathered with Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.) and others to kick off "the Just Majority bus tour" and push for expanding the court and shoring up ethics standards.

In addition to criticisms about Thomas's ties to Crow, who Markey called "a rich right-wing bad actor pushing a far-right agenda," the senator also criticized Thomas for not recusing himself "on cases about efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election, in spite of the fact that his wife was implicated in them."

"We have to ensure that the mockery which Justice Clarence Thomas is actually committing is corrected because it is a violation of public trust," Markey said, adding, "Clarence Thomas is serving on the high court with the highest level of corruption."

Squad members alone in calls to impeach Clarence Thomas after bombshell report

Posted on (Updated by Stephen Neukam

Three members of "The Squad" have renewed calls for Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas to be impeached following a bombshell report on his relationship with a major Republican donor, however their Democratic colleagues have so far called for lesser measures.

Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) and Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) — all members of the progressive “Squad” — have called for Thomas to be impeached following revelations that he received lavish gifts and trips from a Republican billionaire donor over the course of his career on the court. 

The ProPublica report that exposed the alleged gifts sparked outrage from Democrats, but the trio of progressive House Democrats have so far been alone in calls for his impeachment.

“This is beyond party or partisanship,” Ocasio-Cortez said on Twitter last week. “This degree of corruption is shocking — almost cartoonish. Thomas must be impeached.”

“I've said it before and I'll say it again: Clarence Thomas needs to be impeached,” Omar said on Twitter on the same day.

Tlaib noted public confidence in the court was at “an all time low” and blasted Thomas for accepting" luxury trips from a billionaire mega-donor while doing the bidding of right-wing extremists from the bench.”

“Thomas must be impeached and SCOTUS needs a binding code of ethics,” Tlaib said on Twitter.

Thomas has defended his actions, saying he was advised early in his tenure on the court that he did not have to report trips from "close personal friends."

"I have endeavored to follow that counsel throughout my tenure, and have always sought to comply with the disclosure guidelines,” Thomas added.

While those House progressives have called for Thomas to be impeached, other Democrats have backed a probe into Thomas and efforts to create an enforceable code of conduct.

Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), the top lawmaker on the Senate Judiciary Committee, said his panel would act on the allegations laid out in the report.

“The highest court in the land shouldn’t have the lowest ethical standards,” Durbin said in a statement last week. “Today’s report demonstrates, yet again, that Supreme Court Justices must be held to an enforceable code of conduct… the Senate Judiciary Committee will act.”

A group of 16 congressional Democrats, including Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), sent a letter to Chief Supreme Court Justice John Roberts urging him to launch an investigation into the claims against Thomas.

“We believe that it is your duty as Chief Justice ‘to safeguard public faith in the judiciary,’ and that fulfilling that duty requires swift, thorough, independent and transparent investigation into these allegations,” the letter reads.

Ocasio-Cortez calls for Thomas impeachment after report of undisclosed gifts from GOP donor

Posted on (Updated by Stephen Neukam

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) is calling for Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas to be impeached following a report that he accepted luxurious gifts from a billionaire Republican donor for decades.

For years, Thomas took luxury trips and outings on yachts and private jets owned by Dallas businessman Harlan Crow, according to an investigation by ProPublica. Thomas did not disclose the travel, the investigation found. Crow has donated lavishly to Republican candidates.

Ocasio-Cortez blasted the alleged actions as an “almost cartoonish” level of corruption.

“This is beyond party or partisanship,” Ocasio-Cortez said on Twitter. “This degree of corruption is shocking — almost cartoonish. Thomas must be impeached.”

The New York congresswoman also said the report of Thomas’s alleged misconduct reflects negatively on Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts. 

“Barring some dramatic change, this is what the Roberts court will be known for: rank corruption, erosion of democracy, and the stripping of human rights,” Ocasio-Cortez continued.

Ocasio-Cortez is not the only Democratic lawmaker to blast Thomas after the report was released. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) said the news called for an independent investigation.

“This cries out for the kind of independent investigation that the Supreme Court — and only the Supreme Court, across the entire government— refuses to perform,” Whitehouse said on Twitter.

Crow in a statement did not deny the allegations that Thomas had accepted such trips from him over the years, but he said the Supreme Court justice never asked for the gifts.

“The hospitality we have extended to the Thomas’s over the years is no different from the hospitality we have extended to our many other dear friends,” Crow said in a statement. “Justice Thomas and Ginni never asked for any of this hospitality,” referring to the justice's wife, Ginni Thomas.

Bitter Hillary Clinton Blasts Justice Clarence Thomas As ‘Angry’ Person ‘Of Grievance’

Posted on by Rusty Weiss

Hillary Clinton launched a personal attack against Justice Clarence Thomas, the only black man sitting on the Supreme Court, saying she has always known him to be an “angry” man and a “person of grievance.”

Clinton’s comments came about during an interview Tuesday on “CBS Mornings.”

“He’s been a person of grievance for as long as I’ve known him,” she said, telling host Gayle King that she went to law school with Thomas.

“Resentment, grievance, anger. And he has signaled in the past to lower courts, to state legislatures, find cases, pass laws, get them up,” continued Clinton. “I may not win the first, the second, or the third time, but we’re going to keep at it.”

Thomas wrote in his concurring opinion regarding the case that overturned Roe v. Wade last week that other cases using similar legal bases, such as the decision affirming the right to same-sex marriage, should come under review.

RELATED: Justice Alito’s Opinion Doesn’t Just Overturn Roe v. Wade, It Shreds It to Pieces

Hillary Clinton Hits Clarence Thomas With Racist Tropes

Hillary Clinton’s comments about Clarence Thomas being angry and aggrieved show she clearly lacks self-awareness. Has there been anybody in politics more bitter and petty than she has been since her embarrassing loss in 2016?

This is a woman who spent years angrily blaming everybody under the sun for her election loss in 2016 – Comey, Putin, Obama, the media, deplorables … you name it.

And honestly, who looks more like a ‘person of grievance’ – Thomas, the longest-serving Supreme Court justice, or his former law school colleague who is best known for having lost an election she had a 90+% chance of winning?

Hillary Clinton’s comments about Clarence Thomas would never be an acceptable form of criticism afforded Republicans of a black jurist or lawmaker.

CNN, when Barack Obama was President, published a column explaining that the ‘angry black man’ is a racist stereotype.

Certainly, they’ll point out that Clinton’s comments are exactly the same thing, right?

But then, what did you expect from the mouth of a Clinton?

This is, after all, a woman who once called black youth “superpredators” that we “must bring … to heel.”

A woman who said “they all look alike” when confusing Eric Holder and Cory Booker.

Clinton once told an African-American radio host that she always carries “hot sauce” in her bag.

Then there were a number of comments from both Bill and Hillary Clinton that the nation’s first black President was not qualified for the job.

“A few years ago, this guy would have been getting us coffee,” husband Bill Clinton famously told the late Senator Ted Kennedy in trying to prop up Hillary.

RELATED: AOC Wants ‘Consequences’ For Supreme Court Justices, Impeachment For Clarence Thomas

Claims Women Are Going to Die

Aside from her outrageous comments about Clarence Thomas, Hillary Clinton responded to the overturning of Roe v. Wade with an analysis that is nearly indistinguishable from that of the Kardashian of Congress, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

“There are so many things about it that are deeply distressing, but women are going to die, Gayle,” she told the CBS host. “Women are going to die.”

In fact, those are AOC’s very sentiments when she opined on the Supreme Court’s decision.

“This decision and this policy will kill people no matter what their spin and what their talking points are,” Representative Ocasio-Cortez said.

Contrary to Hillary’s belief that Thomas is an angry man full of grievance all his life, the conservative Supreme Court justice consistently flashes a rapier wit and sense of humor when speaking.

He recently quipped that he’d be willing to leave his seat on the court when his job performance was as bad as the media’s.

Now, I don’t care who you are. That’s funny right there.

In 2018, he mocked Senator Cory Booker for his infamous staged ‘Spartacus’ moment.

“Honorable – if we could use that word about more people who are in public life, people who actually ask the questions at confirmation hearings, instead of ‘Spartacus,'” Thomas chided.

A YouGov poll in 2021 shows Americans have the most favorable opinion of Thomas amongst all Supreme Court justices, with 37% approving of his performance, 33% not sure, and 30% disapproving.

Several left-wing pundits have speculated that the Supreme Court’s abortion ruling could catapult Clinton into the 2024 presidential race.

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Clarence Thomas, Consistent Target Of The Left, Explains ‘Right Is Still Right Even If You Stand By Yourself’

Posted on by Rusty Weiss

Clarence Thomas, the longest-serving justice and just the second black justice to serve on the Supreme Court, is a consistent target of criticism from the left.

A recently surfaced video of Thomas’ remarks to the Heritage Foundation’s 2007 President’s Club Meeting provides insight into how he weathers the constant attacks and stands on his own morals and principles.

The conservative Justice credits “an abiding faith” and a “litany of humility” as a means to remain steady in public life.

He then provides the following incredible clip about standing for what you believe in regardless of what others may be saying or doing.

RELATED: AOC Wants ‘Consequences’ For Supreme Court Justices, Impeachment For Clarence Thomas

‘Right is Still Right’

Clarence Thomas’s speeches are always a source of inspiration as he is a gifted orator. But his words ring especially true as the Supreme Court receives consistent threats from the political left in the wake of Roe v. Wade being overturned.

A majority of Americans disapprove of the decision. That doesn’t mean the Court should cower in fear and make decisions based on public opinion rather than the rule of law.

“Whether people are mad at you has nothing to do with whether you’re right,” said Thomas during the 2007 speech.

“You know, you can be in the middle of a hurricane, or you can be on a calm day. North is still north,” he continued. “You could be in a thunderstorm. North is still north. People can yell at you. North is still north.”

“It doesn’t change fundamental things. And in this business, right is still right, even if you stand by yourself.”

It is a remarkable clip about having courage in your convictions. Perhaps Chief Justice John Roberts, who frequently sides with liberals on the court for the sole purpose of maintaining integrity with the public, should take some notes.

The entire speech can be seen below.

‘F*** Clarence Thomas’

The excerpt from Clarence Thomas’s speech is especially poignant in light of recent vile attacks against him and his character.

Far-left Democrat Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) has repeatedly called to impeach him.

She believes his wife’s actions, emailing White House aides about election fraud concerns during the Capitol riot, are grounds for his impeachment.

Actor Samuel L. Jackson used a racist trope in his criticism of the Roe v. Wade ruling, calling Thomas ‘Uncle Clarence’ and wondering about his thoughts on the Loving v. Virginia civil rights case on interracial marriage.

Thomas’s wife is white.

Then there is Chicago mayor Lori Lightfoot, who launched a profane attack on Clarence Thomas last week during a Pride event in the city.

“F*** Clarence Thomas,” she yelled.

Lightfoot wouldn’t be put anywhere near a mayor’s office in any sane city in America, but thrives in a liberal cesspool like Chicago.

Prior to that, she issued a “call to arms,” claiming that the Court will be “coming for us next,” even as violent threats and assassination concerns were prevalent.

Thomas recently received an assist from Justice Sonia Sotomayor – who is the exact opposite of him politically – when she offered praise for her colleague, stating he is a very personable individual who “cares deeply” about the integrity of the court.

Sotomayor said despite their differences of opinion on how to help people, she and Clarence Thomas maintain a friendship because she knows he is a “man who cares deeply about the court as an institution … about the people who work here.”

Perhaps even more important than caring, Thomas understands that “north is north” and “right is still right” no matter who stands against you.

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AOC Wants ‘Consequences’ For Supreme Court Justices, Impeachment For Clarence Thomas

Posted on by Rusty Weiss

Far-left Democrat Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC) is calling for there to be “consequences” for Supreme Court Justices she claims “lied under oath” and suggested they need to face impeachment.

The Supreme Court on Friday overturned the landmark Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion at the federal level.

Some Senators have claimed that by stating during their Senate confirmation hearings that Roe v. Wade was “settled” – which it was at the time they went through the nomination process – Justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh “lied under oath.”

Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV), for example, released a statement indicating he “trusted Justice Gorsuch and Justice Kavanaugh when they testified under oath that they also believed” the landmark ruling was “settled legal precedent.”

“What I believe that the President and the Democratic Party needs to come to terms with is that this is not just a crisis of Roe, this is a crisis of our democracy,” AOC said in an interview with Chuck Todd on Sunday.

The congresswoman was then asked about investigations being launched as a means to remedy the left’s perceived grievance.

RELATED: Justice Alito’s Opinion Doesn’t Just Overturn Roe v. Wade, It Shreds It to Pieces

AOC Calls for Impeachment of Supreme Court Justices

Being a day that ends in ‘Y,’ AOC explained to Todd that investigations and possibly impeachment were the way to go following the Supreme Court’s ruling.

Todd asked her if she thinks “the House Judiciary Committee should begin the process of an investigation” into Kavanaugh and Gorsuch. 

“If we allow Supreme Court nominees to lie under oath and secure lifetime appointments … we must see that through,” she said of possible investigations.

“There must be consequences for such a deeply destabilizing action and hostile takeover of our democratic institutions,” AOC hyperventilated. “This is a crisis of legitimacy.”

AOC then focused her ire toward justice Clarence Thomas, the longest-serving justice, the second black justice, and the most conservative member currently serving on the Supreme Court.

“We have a Supreme Court Justice whose wife participated in January 6th,” AOC said failing to discern between those who wanted election fraud investigated and those who took part in the Capitol riot.

AOC has targeted Thomas for impeachment for some time, following reports that Thomas’ wife, Virginia Thomas, exchanged text messages with Trump White House chief of staff Mark Meadows about alleged election fraud.

“Clarence Thomas should resign,” she has tweeted.

RELATED: AOC Calls To Impeach Clarence Thomas, The Only Black Supreme Court Justice

Ocasio-Cortez Calls Court ‘Illegitimate’

Kavanaugh has also been the subject of smears from the New York socialist, having been maligned by AOC for being “credibly” accused of sexual assault.

“Reminder that Brett Kavanaugh *still* remains credibly accused of sexual assault on multiple accounts [with] corroborated details [and] this year the FBI admitted it never fully investigated,” she tweeted in December.

“Yet the court is letting him decide on whether to legalize forced birth in the US,” Ocasio-Cortez added.

In reality, a Senate Judiciary report from 2018 which investigated the sexual misconduct allegations against Kavanaugh showed there was “no evidence” to support any of the claims that were made against him – including the testimony of Christine Blasey Ford.

After the Supreme Court’s ruling, AOC joined protesters outside the building in chanting that the Court itself is “illegitimate,” even as Kavanaugh was the victim of an assassination attempt and there have been nearly 50 attacks on pro-life centers across the country.

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