Hi,

It’s hard to know where to start when discussing Supreme Court ethics issues — and that’s exactly the problem. But the latest scandals start with Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito yet again.

For months, Thomas argued that he didn’t need to disclose that he took luxury vacations with billionaire GOP mega-donor Harlan Crow. Just last week, he finally said he “inadvertently omitted” the gifts from public disclosures.1 This belated half-admission isn’t nearly enough — something has to be done about Thomas’s ethics violations, other luxury trips, mysterious income, and conflicts of interest.

And there’s Alito. A recording was just released of Alito expressing hyper-partisan positions and saying, “One side or the other is going to win.”2 That doesn’t sound like an impartial judge. This on the heels of revelations that a Stop the Steal style flag is flying over Alito’s house, calling into serious question Alito’s conflicts of interest on cases related to January 6th. Congress must act to end these clear ethics violations and ensure the Supreme Court is fair and impartial.

Sign the petition: Tell Congress to pass a SCOTUS ethics act and put an end to right-wing ethics scandals on the Supreme Court.

Justice Thomas has taken far more in gifts than any other justice — over $4 million in reported gifts as a judge on the most powerful court in America. And with all of Thomas’s scandals, there’s plenty of reason to believe that there are more gifts that have gone undisclosed. The next closest justice on the current court is Samuel Alito, who disclosed $170K in gifts.3

All of this is happening as SCOTUS prepares to rule on critical cases involving Trump and January 6.

The Supreme Court is supposed to be fair and independent, but constant ethics scandals and conflicts of interest make it impossible to view the Court that way. We need big changes on the Court. Congress must pass the bill to finally create a real, binding code of conduct for our federal courts.

Add your name: Pass a Supreme Court ethics act now!

Thanks for taking action,

Joey and the team at Demand Progress

Sources:

  1. ProPublica, “Justice Clarence Thomas Acknowledges He Should Have Disclosed Free Trips From Billionaire Donor,” June 7, 2024.
  2. The Daily Beast, “Samuel Alito Gets Remarkably Candid in Secret Audio Recording,” June 10, 2024.
  3. Steven Mazie on Twitter, “It pays to be Justice Clarence Thomas. New data from...” June 6, 2024.

 

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