It seems like several right-wing members of the Supreme Court are having a hard time keeping up with judicial ethics. We saw Alito jump through all sorts of loopholes to excuse his lapses of judgment and Thomas’s coquettishness about quitting unless somebody paid him off surely burned more than a few calories. This time, working is the least of Thomas’s worries. No seriously, all he has to do right now to be ethical is take a day off — and I’m not sure he can manage that. From the Huffington Post:
Congressional Democrats are calling on Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas to recuse himself from ruling on whether former President Donald Trump can claim immunity from being prosecuted for crimes relating to his plot to overturn the 2020 election.
“No proceeding could be graver than the prosecution of an attempt to undermine our sacred electoral process. Justice will be done only if such a case is heard by judges whose impartiality cannot reasonably be questioned,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) wrote Thursday in a letter addressed to Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts.
Will Thomas find the moral wherewithal to recuse? Probably not, I think that’s a baked-in assumption — which is why it makes sense to address the letter to Roberts. I’m not sure how useful going to the manager will be here, though. The last time that happened, Roberts gave us a Scout’s Honor pledge about how the justices would be better about filling our their disclosure forms… which Thomas and Alito immediately didn’t do, almost as if to spite him.
Just stay home on that day. Maybe make it a date night with the wife… who is implicated in the plot to overturn the 2020 election… and named him as one of the reasons she was able to hold onto the belief that Donald Trump actually won. I can definitely see why someone would be hesitant about Thomas’s impartiality here.
Democrats Call For Justice Clarence Thomas’ Recusal In Trump Immunity Case [Huffington Post]
Chris Williams became a social media manager and assistant editor for Above the Law in June 2021. Prior to joining the staff, he moonlighted as a minor Memelord™ in the Facebook group Law School Memes for Edgy T14s. He endured Missouri long enough to graduate from Washington University in St. Louis School of Law. He is a former boatbuilder who cannot swim, a published author on critical race theory, philosophy, and humor, and has a love for cycling that occasionally annoys his peers. You can reach him by email at cwilliams@abovethelaw.com and by tweet at @WritesForRent.
