The usual suspects are up in arms because over the last twenty years, Justice Clarence Thomas has taken trips with rich people. Were the Thomas's the guest of a rich benefactor, yes. It is an issue. Not really. From the article:
Report: Justice didn’t disclose luxury trips
Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas accepted luxury trips around the globe for more than two decades, including travel on a superyacht and a private jet, from a prominent Republican donor without disclosing them, according to a new report.
ProPublica reported Thursday on an array of trips funded by Harlan Crow, a Dallas businessman. The publication said Thomas typically spends about a week every summer at Crow’s private resort in the Adirondacks. It said the justice also has vacationed at Crow’s ranch in East Texas and has joined Crow at the Bohemian Grove, an exclusive all-male retreat in California.
ProPublica cited a nine-day trip that Thomas and his wife, Virginia “Ginni” Thomas, took to Indonesia in 2019, shortly after the court released its final opinions of the term. That trip, which included flights on Crow’s jet and island-hopping on a superyacht, would have cost the couple more than $500,000 if they had paid for it themselves, the publication said.
OK, they have taken some vacation time on the dime of other people. That never happens in government, right? But here is the critical point.
...Judges are prohibited from accepting gifts from anyone with business before the court. Until recently, however, the judicial branch had not clearly defined an exemption for gifts considered “personal hospitality...”
And he has never had an issue like that in 32 years on the court. How do I know that? Because if there was the slightest chance of it happening, it would be number 50 font top of the front page of every paper in this nation.
Revised rules adopted by a committee of the Judicial Conference, the courts’ policymaking body, seek to provide a fuller accounting. The rules took effect March 14.
In other words, this is worthless. Justice Thomas followed the rules of the court as they were at the time. We can only he will follow the new rules in future events. In other words, a nothing-burger. The people complaining about this (and writing this article) should learn the term ex post facto.
But to hear some of the idiots on the left, this is throwing the court into chaos!
...Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Richard Durbin, D-Ill., vowed in a statement that his panel would take action in response to the report, calling Thomas’ behavior “simply inconsistent with the ethical standards the American people expect of any public servant, let alone a justice on the Supreme Court.”
Durbin and other Democrats renewed calls for the court to adopt a strict ethics code that would include a process for investigating alleged misconduct, and some Democrats called on Thomas to resign.
“This cries out for the kind of independent investigation that the Supreme Court — and only the Supreme Court, across the entire government — refuses to perform,” tweeted Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., who has sponsored legislation that would direct the court to adopt an ethics code.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., renewed her call for Thomas to step down Thursday, saying that the “degree of corruption is shocking — almost cartoonish...”
Little Dick Durbin is challenging the ethics of any American. That is rich.
"Almost cartoonish" AOC. I would say you got some gaul, but you're just clueless:
Ethics panel scrutinizes AOC over ‘Tax the Rich’ dress and Met Gala ensemble
The Office of Congressional Ethics (OCE) said Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) may have accepted impermissible gifts related to her attendance at the Met Gala in 2021, when she made headlines for wearing a white dress that said “Tax the Rich” in red letters on the back.
A June 2022 OCE report and materials released by the House Ethics Committee on Thursday show frustration from vendors about payments for hair and makeup services for the event being delayed for months, as well as payments for her Met Gala ensemble and other associated costs being paid months later.
In an interview with the OCE, Ocasio-Cortez said there was “a ball that was dropped” and that it was “deeply regrettable” that thousands of dollars worth of payments were delayed. She recalled following up with a campaign staffer several times about the need to pay for the services...
Try again AOC. I would call this outrageous, but it's typical leftist hypocrisy.
Leftists, hate to tell you, Justice Thomas is going nowhere until he is ready to retire, or his time on Earth is done. And as you think of every attempt you make to take him down failed again, and again, I hope you seethe.
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