Diane Rehm: On My Mind

Justice Clarence Thomas And The Ethics Of The Supreme Court

04.20.2023 - By WAMU 88.5Play

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A series of recent reports have pulled back the curtains on possible ethics violations by Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.

It started with an investigation by ProPublica that revealed the depth of a relationship between Thomas and a Republican mega-donor. This included decades of lavish gifts and paid vacations – none of which were disclosed.

Then came revelations of undercover real estate deals and continued claims of income from a company that had not existed for years.

Slate’s Mark Joseph Stern says this fits a pattern of behavior by Thomas, who most recently raised eyebrows when he refused to recuse himself from a January 6th case despite his wife Ginni Thomas’s participation in the “Stop the Steal” rally that day. “This isn’t a conservative problem, this isn’t a liberal problem, this is a Clarence Thomas problem,” Stern tells Diane. He is among a growing number of Court watchers who see this not only as a crisis for Justice Thomas, but for the legitimacy of the Supreme Court itself.

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