Courthouse News: Thomas’ luxury vacations footed by GOP megadonor test boundaries on high court ethics
This excerpt is from a piece that originally ran on April 6, 2023.
The progressive advocacy group Alliance for Justice said Thomas should leave the bench and called on Roberts and the U.S. Courts Judicial Conduct Committee to investigate the reported ethical breach.
“Justice Thomas should resign,” Rakim H.D. Brooks, the group’s president, said in a statement. “If he fails to do so, Congress is required by its oath to protect and defend the Constitution to hold robust hearings to determine just how far this rot goes and how badly it has compromised the fair administration of justice.”
Thomas’ adherence to ethics guidelines — or lack thereof — became the subject of discussion around high court reform after text messages were unearthed that show his wife lobbying former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows via text message to pursue efforts to overturn the 2020 election. Ginni Thomas, a longtime conservative activist, has maintained that she does not discuss politics or cases before the court with her husband. When legal challenges to the 2020 election results failed, Justice Thomas was a dissenting vote.