Clarence Sale

Clarence Thomas has been accepting lavish gifts from a Republican mega-donor for almost as long as he’s been on the Supreme Court, while disclosing none of it. Or rather, he initially disclosed some of it, but stopped when reporters got wise to the relationship. Meanwhile, his real-estate tycoon patron, Harlan Crow, has had business before the Supreme Court, and Thomas did not recuse himself. Since these revelations came to light, Thomas has shown no indication of remorse, or that he’ll change the nature of this relationship—he enjoys the same kind of impunity as Donald Trump, with the added benefit of lifetime tenure on the bench. We’ve never lived in a world of perfect political accountability, but the Clarence Thomas problem is new. Richard Nixon had to resign the presidency. Spiro Agnew went down. Supreme Court Justice Abe Fortas was forced to resign in 1969. What changed, and why? Former Congresswoman Elizabeth Holtzman joins host Brian Beutler to discuss her role on the House Judiciary Committee during the Watergate scandal, and what it would take to hold public figures accountable for their corruption at least some of the time, like we were able to in the 60s and 70s.