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Justices Have Been Forced To Resign For Doing What Clarence Thomas Has Done

By Ian Millhiser on Jun 19, 2011 at 1:19 pm

Justice Clarence Thomas is an ethics problem in a black robe. Just eight months after ThinkProgress broke the story of Thomas� attendance at a Koch-sponsored political fundraiser, we learn that Thomas doesn�t just do unethical favors for wealthy right-wing donors � they also do expensive favors for him.

Leading conservative donor Harlan Crow, whose company often litigates in federal court, provided $500,000 to allow Thomas�s wife to start a Tea Party group and he once gave Thomas a $19,000 Bible that belonged to Frederick Douglass. The American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think tank which frequently files briefs in Thomas� Court, also gave Thomas a $15,000 gift.

If this sounds familiar, it�s because America has seen this movie before. Indeed, the Thomas scandal is little more than a remake of the forty year-old gifting scandal that brought down Justice Abe Fortas. Like Thomas, Fortas liked to associate with wealthy individuals with potential business before his Court. And like Thomas, Fortas took inappropriate gifts from his wealthy benefactors....

It is difficult to distinguish Fortas� scandal from Thomas�. Like Fortas, Thomas accepted several very valuable gifts from parties who are frequently interested in the outcome of federal court cases. One of Thomas� benefactors has even filed briefs in his Court since giving Thomas a $15,000 gift, and Thomas has not recused himself from each of these cases...

Even ultra-conservative Justice Antonin Scalia finds Thomas� approach to the law too extreme � in Scalia�s words �I am a textualist. I am an originalist. I am not a nut...�