I think it’s fair to say that there is no one Democrats hate more than Justice Clarence Thomas.
But Trump you shout. Fair enough, but they’ve been hating and attacking Clarence Thomas since 1991, Trump is a relatively new-found object of hate. Also, they hate Trump (and every other potential Republican nominee) because he’s a threat to their political power; they hate Thomas at a much more visceral, gut level, because as a Black conservative he represents a threat to the core of their race-baiting being.
So the war on Clarence Thomas is a forever war. That forever war is energized by Democrats’ frustration that the U.S. Supreme Court is the one major national institution that the left does not control. So what they can’t control, they must destroy.
Hence the calls long before the abortion decision for court-packing and investigations of conservative Justices, and the open instigation of violence resulting in an assassination attempt against Justice Kavanaugh. Amazing how that’s been memory-holed, isn’t it?
The latest salvo was fired by ProPublica, in an article about the Thomas’s relationship with conservative donor Harlan Crowe. The article suggests some impropriety, Clarence Thomas and the Billionaire:
IN LATE JUNE 2019, right after the U.S. Supreme Court released its final opinion of the term, Justice Clarence Thomas boarded a large private jet headed to Indonesia. He and his wife were going on vacation: nine days of island-hopping in a volcanic archipelago on a superyacht staffed by a coterie of attendants and a private chef.If Thomas had chartered the plane and the 162-foot yacht himself, the total cost of the trip could have exceeded $500,000. Fortunately for him, that wasn’t necessary: He was on vacation with real estate magnate and Republican megadonor Harlan Crow, who owned the jet — and the yacht, too.For more than two decades, Thomas has accepted luxury trips virtually every year from the Dallas businessman without disclosing them, documents and interviews show….
Sounds bad, huh? Except nothing in the ProPublica article demonstrates that it was unlawful to hop on a friend’s private jet to vacation at his private home.
The only possible hook ProPublica had was non-disclosure:
These trips appeared nowhere on Thomas’ financial disclosures. His failure to report the flights appears to violate a law passed after Watergate that requires justices, judges, members of Congress and federal officials to disclose most gifts, two ethics law experts said. He also should have disclosed his trips on the yacht, these experts said.
There’s no evidence of a quid pro quo, and Crow had no business before the Supreme Court. Is it really a shock that Justice Thomas hangs out with conservatives?
The claim that the value of the trips was reportable is hotly disputed. The Wall Street Journal argued in an editorial:
The left’s assault on the Supreme Court is continuing, and the latest front is the news that Justice Clarence Thomas has a rich friend who has hosted the Justice on his private plane, his yacht, and his vacation resort. That’s it. That’s the story. Yet this non-bombshell has triggered breathless claims that the Court must be investigated, and that Justice Thomas must resign or be impeached. Those demands give away the real political game here….The ProPublica writers suggest that Justice Thomas may have violated ethics rules, and they quote a couple of cherry-picked ethicists to express their dismay.But it seems clear that the Court’s rules at the time all of this happened did not require that gifts of personal hospitality be disclosed. This includes the private plane trips. ProPublica fails to make clear to readers that the U.S. Judicial Conference recently changed its rules to require more disclosure. The new rules took effect last month.Justice Thomas would have been obliged to disclose gifts that posed a conflict of interest involving cases that would be heard by the High Court. But there is no evidence that Mr. Crow has had any such business before the Court, and Mr. Crow says he has “never asked about a pending or lower court case.”The most ProPublica can come up with is that “Crow has deep connections in conservative politics.” Oh dear….Justice Thomas said in a Friday statement that “early in my tenure at the court, I sought guidance from my colleagues and others in the judiciary, and was advised that this sort of personal hospitality from close personal friends, who did not have business before the Court, was not reportable.” He added that “these guidelines are now being changed,” as the Judicial Conference announced new guidance. “And, it is, of course, my intent to follow this guidance in the future,” the statement said.
Attorney Leslie McAddoo Gordon has an detailed Twitter thread confirming that there was no disclosure required (though there may be under recently adopted rules). Read the whole thread, here are some key parts of it:
Others have pointed out that the arguments against Thomas are weak at best:
Even Sheldon “dark money” Whitehouse, who has been on a jihad against conservative Justices for years, admits only recent changes would require Thomas to report – an admission he violated no rule or law.
In a completely sleazy and fraudulent move (I know, you’re *shocked*) Democrats are claiming Crow is a Nazi sypmathizer because he has Nazi memorabilia at his home – but in fact he collect memorabilia of all sorts of totalitarian and repressive regimes to demonstrate the dangers:
None of that has stopped the liars and smear merchants:
These are bad people. I’m approaching Jason Whitlock territory, “We Can’t Find Common Ground” With The Left, Need To Go “Our Separate Ways”.
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