A report launched final week accusing Supreme Courtroom Justice Clarence Thomas of improperly receiving lavish presents from a rich pal is nothing greater than a political hit job, one professional claimed.
“That is simply greedy at straws by the left that’s determined to tear down Justice Thomas as a result of he now has a working originalist majority on the courtroom,” mentioned Roger Severino, vice chairman of home coverage and The Joseph C. and Elizabeth A. Anderlik Fellow at The Heritage Basis.
“That is politics. Plain and easy.“
Severino’s feedback to Fox Information Digital got here in response to a ProPublica report on Thursday accusing Thomas of improperly receiving lavish holidays from Republican mega donor Harlan Crow.
The ProPublica report accuses Thomas of taking journeys the world over on Crow’s yacht and personal jet with out disclosing them and Crow acknowledged extending “hospitality” to Thomas however insisted he by no means requested for it and that the 2 households have been buddies for many years.
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Justice Clarence Thomas has come beneath hearth over reviews he didn’t disclose presents from a significant GOP donor. (AP Picture/J. Scott Applewhite, File)
The ProPublica report claimed that journeys taken by Thomas “don’t have any identified precedent within the trendy historical past of the U.S. Supreme Courtroom,” which Severino flatly rejected.
“There isn’t a ‘there’ there as a result of the justices have acquired presents of hospitality from buddies perpetually,” Severino mentioned. “And lots of the justices have taken much more journeys than Justice Thomas on someone else’s dime, together with Justice Breyer, who we all know has taken at the very least 233 journeys when he was on the bench.”
Severino defined that justices are permitted to just accept invitations to properties of buddies for dinner or holidays with out paying for it or disclosing it.
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“There’s nothing to see right here as a result of there’s been no allegation by any means that accepting journey to a pal’s property one way or the other influenced Justice Thomas’s decision-making,” Severino mentioned. “That is absurd. If you understand something about Justice Thomas, it is that he isn’t influenced by outdoors pressures one whit. He is guided by the legislation and the Structure. Interval.“
Severino accused liberals of giving a “go” to perceived bias on the left, stating that the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg officiated a same-sex wedding ceremony earlier than the Obergefell resolution that federally acknowledged homosexual marriage.
“Did that maybe point out bias the place she ought to have recused herself?” Severino requested. “The media was pretty silent about that and that form of factor is far nearer to the guts of impropriety in judging.”
Justices will not be required to reveal invites and journey which might be thought-about “private hospitality” and the Supreme Courtroom isn’t topic to an ethics code.
The Washington Submit reported that the Judicial Convention, the policymaking physique of the courtroom, determined final month that judges should report journey by non-public jet, which Severino says is additional proof Thomas was abiding by the principles.
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Supreme Courtroom Justice Clarence Thomas speaks on the Heritage Basis on Oct. 21, 2021, in Washington, D.C. (Drew Angerer/Getty Photos)
“It really additional reinforces the truth that he’d been appearing throughout the guidelines and in accordance with the follow that has been understood for many years. Hospitality contains when someone picks you as much as take you to their home or to their property. That is what hospitality is. It simply occurred to be a pal that has made it on the earth that is been fairly profitable, would not change the truth that he is a pal.”
Constitutional legislation professor and Fox Information contributor Jonathan Turley instructed Fox Information Digital that till just lately, “even decrease courtroom judges weren’t required to report such journeys beneath a private hospitality exception.”
“Justice Thomas wouldn’t have been required to report the journeys beneath the prior rule,” Turley mentioned. “As soon as once more, the Democrats and the media seem like partaking in the identical hair-triggered responses to any story associated to Thomas. This contains the clearly absurd name for an impeachment by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.”
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By way of the ProPublica implication that Thomas’s relationship with Crow one way or the other affected his rulings from the bench, Severino mentioned, “No person with a straight face can say Justice Thomas has been influenced by anyone besides by the Structure and his greatest studying of it.”
Many liberals on social media referred to the ProPublica report as a “bombshell” and a few known as for a resignation.
On the identical time, conservatives on Twitter echoed Severino’s conclusion that there isn’t a “there there” with the report.
“Laughably silly,” writer Dinesh D’Souza wrote. “He holidays with a wealthy pal, who additionally pays for dinner! Is that this the very best they’ve obtained? Clarence Thomas’ actual offense is being black and conservative.”
“I learn the most recent excessive tech lynching of Clarence Thomas for happening trip together with his wealthy pal,” conservative communications director Greg Worth tweeted. “I additionally learn the disclosure legal guidelines for judges linked within the story that claims they do not should report presents from private buddies. ProPublica mysteriously left that out of their story.”
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The ProPublica article cited a number of specialists who blasted Thomas’ actions, together with a retired choose appointed by former President Invoice Clinton who known as the justice’s actions “incomprehensible.”
Different specialists, together with authorized ethics professional Stephen Gillers at NYU Faculty of Legislation, adopted a tone extra much like Severino’s.
“Justice Thomas might plausibly declare, and I feel has claimed (as have others) that as long as an invite itself got here from a ‘particular person,’ not a company or enterprise entity, it was ‘private hospitality’ and he didn’t have to report it,” Gillers instructed the Washington Submit.
On Friday, Thomas launched a prolonged assertion saying simply that.
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Supreme Courtroom Justice Clarence Thomas sits together with his spouse and conservative activist Virginia Thomas. (Drew Angerer/Getty Photos)
“Harlan and Kathy Crow are amongst our dearest buddies, and we have now been buddies for over twenty-five years,” Thomas mentioned in a press release. “As buddies do, we have now joined them on quite a lot of household journeys through the greater than quarter century we have now identified them.
“Early in my tenure on the Courtroom, I sought steerage from my colleagues and others within the judiciary, and was suggested that this form of private hospitality from shut private buddies, who didn’t have enterprise earlier than the Courtroom, was not reportable. I’ve endeavored to comply with that counsel all through my tenure, and have at all times sought to adjust to the disclosure pointers.”
Thomas acknowledged that the rules have been modified final month and it’s his “intent to comply with this steerage sooner or later.”
Turley instructed Fox Information Digital that Thomas was “proper to launch a public assertion.”
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“Justices have lengthy been company of personal hosts,” Turley mentioned. “They’re allowed to have buddies and settle for their hospitality. There isn’t a proof that Crow had enterprise earlier than the courtroom. Nonetheless, costly presents or advantages needs to be disclosed, for my part, within the pursuits of courtroom integrity.”
“I’ve additionally lengthy argued for a code of ethics that applies to the courtroom. The query is the place to attract the road in order that judges will not be continuously pressured to deal with each pal like a lobbyist or affect seeker.”
