Gob-Smacking and Ahistorical: The End of the Justice Thomas Referral
Fix the Court’s Gabe Roth issued this statement following the release of gob-smacking, ahistorical letters from the Judicial Conference:
“Not only do presidents have absolute immunity from prosecution for violating the law, but now Supreme Court justices enjoy immunity for law-breaking, as well. That is as shameful as it is contrary to the plain-text reading of the financial disclosure law, which sets clear guidelines about the types of gifts that need to be reported — which Justice Thomas has obviously and frequently violated over the years — and includes real consequences for violations.
“Even if one believes that a certain segment of Thomas’ free vacations, like his stays at Harlan Crow’s ranch or summer camp, were not reportable due to the personal hospitality exemption, that still fails to explain his willful omissions of the R.V. and the private school tuition, both of which constituted five- or six-figure reportable gifts. And no amount of language-twisting in the Conference’s letters changes the fact that free transportation is not included under the subheading of gifts exempt from reporting.
“The Conference writing the justices out of much of the disclosure law is also ahistorical, as the law was drafted shortly after two justices were found to have accepted outside — and arguably unethical — income. So it was very much congressional intent to ensure that the nine were held to the same standards as lower-court judges and other government officials. What’s more, it was 44 years ago this month (Jan. 12, 1981; p. 320) that the justices refused to grant review in Duplantier v. U.S. — a challenge to the Ethics in Government Act’s disclosure requirements for the judiciary — which upheld the law and the responsibility of the justices to follow its precepts or suffer consequences. I had presumed that that remained good law, and I’d be interested to learn how the Conference effectively overruled SCOTUS — or who pressured them to do so.
“Like the time the Ethics in Government Act was enacted, we’re once again in an era that’s marked by a keen attention to government malfeasance. But unlike the post-Watergate period, the justices today can be found sitting on superyachts, flying circles around the globe on private jets and laughing in our faces.
“Finally, if there were any doubt, the Conference’s letters further underscore the need for Congress to create a new and transparent mechanism to investigate the justices for ethics violations since the Conference is unwilling to act upon the one method we had presumed existed to do that.”