Corruption, Thy Name Is Clarence!

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

If Cheech Marin were a Justice on the US Supreme Court (I wish!), he might put it this way:  "Ethics!  Ethics!  We don't need no stinking ethics!"

Yesterday ProPublica, the first on-line news source to ever win a Pulitzer Prize, published an investigative piece on Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and his dubious relationships with a small group of billionaires who have, for years, showered the Justice and his politically active wife with expensive travel and vacations which the Thomases have largely failed to report.  ProPublica uncovered evidence of 38 luxury vacations and other travel-related excursions which were gifted to the Thomases by extremely rich individuals, many of whom had business, at one time or another, before the Supreme Court.

After an extensive review of social media posts, interviews with people associated with the travel, and even perusing photo albums, ProPublica was able to document 38 destination vacations, 26 private jet flights - and eight by helicopter,  12 VIP passes to professional and college sporting events, two stays at luxury resorts, and one standing invitation to an ultra-exclusive golf club.  The investigative group believes that list is just a minimum accounting of gifts the Thomases have received from their filthy rich "dear friends."

(I am three-months-to-the-day older that Clarence Thomas, and I have been on some nice vacations - but no where near thirty-eight.  The best ones were when the kids were young and we would spend the nights in sleeping bags  in our family tent at various KOAs around the country.  I'm doubting that Clarence and Ginni even know what a KOA is, let alone have ever stayed in one.  That is their loss.)

Clarence Thomas was reported as saying during a speech in 2001 in which he discussed his position on the Court:  "The job is not worth doing for what they pay."  Perhaps not, Clarence, but it seems to come with a helluva a perks package!

Several political leaders (Democrats, of course) are saying that enough is enough, and that Clarence Thomas  needs to resign.  Congressman Ted Lieu of California posted the following to "X" (Twitter) yesterday:

"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."

Hear!  Hear!  Corruption, thy name is Clarence!

There is currently a lot of noise in the press and on Capitol Hill about the need for some sort of ethics reform in the Supreme Court, something that will keep major embarrassments at bay, but that appears unlikely to happen any time soon.  The Senate Judiciary Committee has been trying to come up with a plan, and, in response to that effort, an angry Justice Alito made a big splash in an opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal by declaring that "No provision in the Constitution gives (Congress) the authority to regulate the Supreme Court - period."  Chief Justice Roberts has also been trying to come up with ethics guidelines that all nine justices could agree on - and he bas apparently failed miserably.

So, as Lucy Van Pelt would no doubt put it, "the gift-getting season" will continue unabated at the United States Supreme Court.

The Roberts' Court remains a national embarrassment!