Dear John,

Life is tough when you’re a Supreme Court Justice, it seems.

Luxury cruises on a mega-yacht, international flights on a private jet, vacations at private resorts, gifts worth literally millions of dollars -- these types of perks, provided by private donors, surely are out of reach when you sit on the nation’s highest court.

Personal integrity and impeccable objectivity -- these must be the benchmarks to determine one’s actions, to ensure the Court’s legitimacy and authority, right?

Unless, of course, you’re Clarence Thomas.

Currently, all federal judges are required to follow a code of ethics. All of them, that is, except Supreme Court justices. As a result, Supreme Court justices don’t have to recuse themselves when conflicts of interest arise. You know, the kinds of conflicts that are created by accepting lavish gifts, like these possibly illegal gifts from far right mega-donor Harlan Crow gave to Justice Thomas according to a brand new report from ProPublica.^[1]

In the absence of a code of ethics, the U.S. Constitution recognizes only one recourse to hold accountable an errant Supreme Court justice: impeachment. That means, if Justice Thomas won’t step down on his own, Congress must act to bring accountability to the Court.

Although the Supreme Court has no binding code of ethics, legal experts hold that Thomas violated federal disclosure laws when he failed to report the free travel he received. Yet, these undisclosed gifts, worth millions of dollars, have not been his only ethical lapses -- or even his most serious.

Justice Thomas also failed to recuse himself when he faced other clear conflicts of interest.

His wife, Ginni Thomas, advocated for the overthrow of the government with dozens of state legislators and directly to the White House Chief of Staff, yet Thomas continued to hear Supreme Court cases directly related to the insurrection. And, again, he was the sole dissenting vote against requiring former President Trump to provide subpoenaed White House documents to the Jan. 6 committee.

Nor was this the only instance in which Thomas’ judicial decisions were in lockstep with the conservative political activism of his wife.

In 2000, she was working with George W. Bush’s transition team when he voted to stop the vote recounts and hand the presidency to Bush.

In 2012, his wife was being paid to lobby for the repeal of the Affordable Care Act at the same time he voted against it.

And in 2017, his wife worked for an organization that supported Trump’s ban on Muslim immigration, even as he voted for it.

They may be a dream team for the far right, but Justice Thomas and his wife are a nightmare for the impartial rule of law.

Clarence Thomas has violated the public’s trust, and corruptly exploited his position of power to subsidize a life of luxury. He must resign, but if it won’t there only one option. it’s time to impeach Justice Clarence Thomas.

Thank you for taking action to support a fair and independent judiciary.

Robert Reich
Inequality Media Civic Action

^{[1] Clarence Thomas and the Billionaire}