SCOTUS Thomas Outed Again

A Lot from Lydia

ProPublica has uncovered more of the same corruption by conservative Supreme Court Justice, Clarence Thomas. Thomas said of his vacations with Harlan Crow, something to the effect of we are good friends, of course we go on vacations together. The home Crow purchased for Thomas’s mother, and the elite education for Thomas’s nephew, were not addressed.

His acceptance, and non-disclosure, of gifts from billionaires now includes three more benefactors, besides Harlan Crow.

H. Wayne Huizenga, a billionaire who turned Blockbuster and Waste Management into national goliathsPaul “Tony” Novelly, retired oil company titleholderDavid Sokol, former heir apparent of Berkshire Hathaway

Thomas enjoyed many extravagant excursions over the 30 years of his tenure. The booty includes flights on private jets and helicopters, stays at luxury resorts, skybox tickets to college and pro sporting events, and a standing invitation to play at a high-end exclusive golf club in Florida. (Yawn.)

Did I mention Thomas failed to report these perks on his financial disclosure forms?

The reason it is unethical for Thomas to lap up treats is that he has been the SCOTUS, presiding over several cases of interest to these generous friends. This is a pattern, Thomas accepting bribery with limited public admission.

Read The ProPublica article, link attached, to find the methods they used to uncover this round of undisclosed gifts.

Sokol, one of the busted billionaires, said,

“We have never once discussed any pending court matter. Our conversations have always revolved around helping young people, sports, and family matters. As to the use of private aviation, I believe that, given security concerns, all the Supreme Court justices should either fly privately or on governmental aircraft.”

Did Thomas break the law? He shows consciousness of guilt by not disclosing the gifts. But also, if it was public knowledge, we would have scrutinized him for presiding over cases of interest to his “dear friends.”

How many of these billionaires would have gifted Thomas perks that are estimated to value in the millions if he wasn’t a Justice? I dunno. But, when I stopped taking cupcakes to class on my birthday, no one gave a duck what day it was.

The Constitution states that Justices “shall hold their Offices during good Behavior.” So he’ll resign, right? Hahaha… no. Why would he give up a lifetime appointment that protects him from accountability?

What can we do? Considering that members of the SCOTUS have declared themselves immune to the laws of mortal men, the only recourse is to remove Thomas is by impeachment.

Has a Justice ever been impeached? The only case of impeachment was Associate Justice Samuel Chase in 1805.

Is anyone working on reform?Yes.In February, Senator Whitehouse introduced a bill establishing new codes of conduct for judges and justices of U.S. courts, including Justices of the Supreme Court.Soon after, Senator Whitehouse and Blumenthal, and Representatives Johnson, Nadmer, Quigly and Cicilline introduced a revised version, ‘Supreme Court Ethics, Recusal, and Transparency Act.’And in June, Representatives Ro Khanna and Don Beyer reintroduced ‘The Supreme Court Term Limits and Regular Appointments Act’ following the Supreme Court’s decision to block the Biden Administration’s Student Debt Relief Plan.Another group of Senate Democrats has introduced the ‘Judiciary Act of 2021,’ proposing an increase adding four Justices to the Supreme Court. This would match the numbers in the circuit court, which was the formula of the past. As you can see by the name of the bill, two years have passed without success.Finally, On July 10, 2023, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin proposed a bill to speed things along.

“The bill would give the court 180 days to adopt and publish a code of conduct, allowing the public to submit ethics complaints that a randomly selected panel of lower court judges would review. It would establish new rules for disclosure of gifts and travel. And it would impose recusal rules pertaining to gifts, income and other potential conflicts.”

The problem lies here, this bill these bills require a supermajority to pass the Senate. That means instead of 51-49, they need 60 votes to pass. To abolish the super majority rule involves a vote with a simple majority. Two Democratic Senators, Manchin and Sinema, refuse to add their tallies to that cause.

This is a quite a conundrum. The only solution to passing any of the bills is to garner a real majority in the Senate and House at the same time. To achieve that, we must all vote Democratic. Until then, Thomas and his right-wing SCOTUS colleagues in crime are not going anywhere, or changing their behavior.

I’ve often imagined where we would be as a country and as a planet if Al Gore had been allowed to be president? He won, and had the Supreme Court at the time not stopped the recount, he would have been president. Clarence Thomas was the deciding SCOTUS who ended the recount. Now I realize I should have been wondering where we’d be had we listened to Anita Hill. This would be a different world.

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Via https://alotfromlydia.com/2023/08/10/scotus-thomas-outed-again/