Another day, another reason to distrust the U.S. Supreme Court’s ability to rule fairly. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas is known to have concealed decades of lavish trips paid for by a major GOP donor. While he may have broken the law this time (please feel free to take action to impeach him here), it is still yet unclear what direct impacts these gifts (provided by a Hitler artifact-collecting GOP megadonor) have had on his rulings.
This isn’t the first time Thomas has raised serious ethical violations, and he’s not the only one. But don’t hold your breath for any accountability, because while every other federal judge in this country is bound by a code of ethics that prevents blatant conflicts of interest, the nine justices on the Supreme Court are seemingly exempt. It’s time to change that!
Sign the petition to Congress: Stop the corruption! The Supreme Court must be made to follow basic ethics standards.
Clarence Thomas’ wife advocated for the overthrow of the government while he continued to rule on Supreme Court cases directly related to the insurrection, including Donald Trump’s attempt to block the Jan. 6 committee from getting White House documents. Thomas was the only justice to dissent in that case.
Thomas has also failed to recuse himself when he faced other obvious conflicts of interest. In 2000, he joined the majority in Bush v. Gore, handing the presidency to George W. Bush while his wife was actively aiding Bush’s transition team. In 2012, he participated in the first challenge to the Affordable Care Act even though his wife was being paid to lobby against it and to seek its repeal. And in 2017, he ruled to uphold Trump’s cruel Muslim ban while Ginni Thomas received funding from one of the organizations that urged the court to uphold it.
Thomas’ colleague, Chief Justice Roberts, also has a serious ethics conflict due to the work of his spouse, Jane Roberts. Jane Roberts, a legal recruiter, has earned millions in commissions for recruiting attorneys for jobs at law firms, which include firms that have cases before the Supreme Court.
The American people's confidence in our democracy itself was already shaken by this court’s political rulings that consistently go against the will of the people—striking down Roe, gutting voting rights protections, overturning common-sense state and local gun regulations, and attacking federal efforts to combat climate change.
Corrupt actions by sitting justices only serve to further erode the court’s integrity and the public’s trust in that court. Supreme Court justices must be held to account for flouting the ethical rules that apply to every other judge in the country.
We must restore transparency and accountability in the U.S. Supreme Court. We are calling on Congress to ensure that by passing the Supreme Court Ethics Act.
Sign the petition to Congress: Pass the Supreme Court Ethics Act.