Lawmakers call for investigation of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas… finally
English: Clarence Thomas, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Progressive groups like Common Cause have been calling for a conflict of interest investigation of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas for months now.
Back in January, Common Cause linked Justices Thomas and Antonin Scalia to the infamous Koch brothers.
From the Tucson Progressive…
The watchdog group Common Cause is now raising the question of conflict of interest in this case [Citizens United]. Two of the court’s most conservative justices– Clarence Thomas and Antonin Scalia, who voted in favor of Citizens United– have been linked to Charles and David Koch, conservative billionaires who push right-wing causes with their contributions and benefited from the Citizens United ruling.
At issue is the justices attendance at soirees hosted by the Kochs. Common Cause has asked the Justice Department to investigate the connection and has asked for a re-trial if conflict of interest is found.
Today, the Huffington Post reported that a group of 20 Democratic lawmakers are calling for an ethics investigation of Thomas for 20 YEARS of not reporting gifts and other income on his financial disclosure forms. From the Huffington Post…
WASHINGTON — Democratic lawmakers on Thursday called for a federal investigation into Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas’ failure to report hundreds of thousands of dollars on annual financial disclosure forms.
Led by House Rules Committee ranking member Rep. Louise Slaughter (D-N.Y.), 20 House Democrats sent a letter to the Judicial Conference of the United States — the entity that frames guidelines for the administration of federal courts — requesting that the conference refer the matter of Thomas’ non-compliance with the Ethics in Government Act of 1978 to the Department of Justice.
The letter outlines how, throughout his 20-year tenure on the Supreme Court, Thomas routinely checked a box titled “none” on his annual financial disclosure forms, indicating that his wife had received no income. But in reality, the letter states, she earned nearly $700,000 from the Heritage Foundation from 2003 to 2007 alone.
Slaughter called it “absurd” to suggest that Thomas may not have known how to fill out the forms.
“It is reasonable, in every sense of the word, to believe that a member of the highest court in the land should know how to properly disclose almost $700,000 worth of income,” Slaughter said in a statement. “To not be able to do so is suspicious, and according to law, requires further investigation. To accept Justice Thomas’s explanation without doing the required due diligence would be irresponsible.”
The letter also cites a June report in The New York Times indicating Thomas may have regularly benefited from the use of a private yacht and airplane owned by real estate magnate Harlan Crowe and failed to disclose the travel as a gift or travel reimbursement.
Current law requires the Judicial Conference to refer to the Attorney General any judge the conference “has reasonable cause to believe has willfully failed to file a report or has willfully falsified or willfully failed to file information required to be reported.”
Slaughter’s press statement also notes that the Heritage Foundation was a prominent opponent of the Affordable Care Act, an issue the Supreme Court is expected to rule on by next summer.
Finally, someone has the backbone to investigate this guy. He never should have been confirmed in the first place. Special thanks to CD7 Representative Raul Grijalva for being one of the 20 signers on this letter.
12 comments on “Lawmakers call for investigation of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas… finally”
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Tucson Progressive 
Saw the list of signatories, what a gallery of pride this lot makes up, including (of course) ol’ Raul.
More interested in the latest Solar Co.guarentees just made to Pelosi’ brother-in-law, frankly.
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yes, i am more intersted in the white house handling of Solyndra than what a wife of a supreme court justice is doing, see they couldnt get a repub, them dems sure are sore losers
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So, 20 years of fraud in financial disclosures and multiple conflicts of interest not declared by a SUPREME COURT JUSTICE is no big deal??? You have got to be kidding.
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I wouldn’t hold my breath on this, with the way they let Rangel skate away from his illegal dealings and Maxine Water’s family banking scandal; even if there is something here, Washington types will just “count coup” and save a favor for when they themselves get into a scrape. Anyone remember the BCCI scandal?
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Hey, we’d rather fight among ourselves, denigrating each other every day on this website rather than pause and see the seriousness involved with a judge on the highest court of the land indulging in fraudulent activities.
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I’ll mention it again. Obamacare is coming up in front of the Supreme court and the signatores of the letter were pulled out of their rat holes by their leadership to attach their names to a pure pile of dog do since they are only in Congress to do the Democratic leadership’s bidding on command.
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Tucson progressives my but
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They can start this investigation as soon as they finish the investigation on Maxine Waters. Then they can start another one about the solar loan just made to Nancy Pelosi’s brother-in-law. After that then they can investigate the gifts that Thomas may or may not have received.
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I think they should investigate every judge and every politician. Has anyone notice there are no poor politician? I think every politician should offer financial advise, as they are able to leverage a government salary into millions.
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Well 20 years of fraud, ad that to his controversial appointment and all that mess I doubt he is the most stellar US supreme court justice and if he cannot fill out a form correctly on his wifes $700,000 plus income, how can he be compentent to rule on complicated legal cases?
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Frankly there are many,many articles to review on this subject- The latest one last month in the New Yorker.
It boils down to the fact that B.O. CARE is coming up on the docket has NOTHING, NOTHING to do with these “Representatives” letter- It was “round up the usual idiots” for signatures- Notice the names- A bunch of back benchers-Each one with freezers full of money. I would love the same investigation called on that lot and see whjat happens.thing.
Raul has a full time staff keeping him upright (both barely on the side of limits of what he takes, as well as physically upright) and none us complain about THAT.
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Progressive paranoia at full tilt!
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