Anthony Weiner has resigned, but thankfully we've still got someone out there pushing for something to be done about Clarence Thomas and his unethical behavior while serving on the Supreme Court, Rep. Chris Murphy (D-CT).
Rep. Chris Murphy: Thomas Gift Scandal ‘Undermine[s] The Integrity of The Entire Judiciary’:
ThinkProgress has obtained a draft letter Rep. Chris Murphy (D-CT) circulated this morning to his fellow members of Congress asking the House Judiciary Committee’s leadership to hold a hearing on the Supreme Court Transparency and Disclosure Act, a bill that will end the Supreme Court’s immunity to judicial ethics laws. As Murphy’s letter explains, his bill addresses the bevy of recently revealed ethics scandals involving members of the Supreme Court, including the Clarence Thomas gifting scandal [...]
In a message attached to the draft letter, Murphy asks his colleagues to join him in signing his request for “Judiciary Committee hearing on the alarming number of reports of possible unethical conduct by Supreme Court justices.” Rep. Murphy’s full draft letter requesting a hearing is copied below the fold.
Murphy is now inviting the public to co-sign his letter. You can do so here.
In an exclusive interview with ThinkProgress, Rep. Chris Murphy (D-CT) — the lead sponsor of a bill which would strip Supreme Court justices of their immunity from a code of ethical conduct that applies to other federal judges — suggests that an investigation may be necessary to determine whether Justice Clarence Thomas’ many ethics scandals rise to the level where Thomas is no longer fit to serve on the nation’s highest Court [...]
Justice Thomas has sat on at least 11 cases where a Harlan Crow-affiliated group filed a brief — adopting the group’s preferred outcome in all but one case. Moreover, Thomas has yet to explain the full extent of his connections to Crow, despite news reports that Crow lavished gifts and other expensive favors on Thomas and his family. Nor has Thomas explained how his gifting scandal differs from the very similar gifting scandal that brought down Justice Abe Fortas.
Much more in both posts, so go read the rest. Keith Olbermann discussed the issue with professor of law at George Washington University Jonathan Turley who wrote about Thomas in an op-ed this March here -- Clarence Thomas' dangerous conceit.
