Will US Justice Clarence Thomas Finally Get His Comeuppance?

[PeterRS]

 

Those us who remember the Confirmation hearings during Clarence Thomas's bid to be appointed to the Supreme Court three decades ago will definitely recall that he never once answered Professor Anita Hill's testimony with its allegations of sexual impropriety in the worldplace. Remember the pubic hair on the Coca Cola can? Instead, the veins on his head bulging, he spent some considerable time haranguing the Judiciary Committee members about how this was yet another slur on black men and a means to stop their advancement. The Chairman - Joe Biden, remember? - never asked for his detailed answer to Anita Hill's specific allegations. Nor did he call the other women waiting outside the Committee Room to back up Professor Hill's comments. So Thomas sailed through. Since then he has been arguably the Court's most right wing member, yet has hardly made any publlic comments. Perhaps his best course given how believable the allegations against him were.

Now we know that his wife was involved through encouraging emails and perhaps more to those who stormed the Capital to stop Joe Biden's election process. And today CNN reports that his ethics are as questionable as his sexual peccadillos. ProPublica reported yesterday that over his years on the bench he accepted many luxury trips arranged for and paid by GOP billionaire and mega-donor Harlan Crow. These included trips on private jets and super yachts to Indonesia and New Zealand and to several US states.  Some sort of perks were provided by Crow virtually every year. Thomas and his wife paid for none of these and failed to disclose all but one on his public ethics filings. Crow claims these were merely gatherings with friends! Huh? Er . . . what happened here about legal ethics and conflicts of interest? Or is it just that Thomas conveniently forgot about these nice little presents just as he conveniently forgot about that small public hair on the Coke can?

CNN dug up his interview in which he states he prefere to take vacations learning about the United States rather than going to places like Europe! Huh? The man is a disgrace!

https://www.gayguides.com/forums/forum/5-the-beer-bar/?do=add

[TotallyOz]

No. Short answer.

Nothing will become of this. We all know the Supreme Court Justices are corrupt. But, nothing ever happens to them. This will not be an exception. IMHO

[unicorn]

Thomas is a scumbag, but the notion of ousting an associate justice of the SCOTUS seems all but impossible. Look what Trump got away with. I'm not even sure they'll oust Representative Santos and put him in jail, where he belongs as well. 

[Suckrates]

Let's all just face the fact that THIS is our govt these days,  corrupt and power hungry.  And the more pressure put on the corrupt individuals, the more arrogant and vengeful they become....   So, we can only hope that todays youth is tomorrows saviors and can CORRECT all this shit,  for THEIR sakes.    They see clearly whats happening, and dont seem to want to bury their heads or turn their backs like the previous generation has done.   If current Laws dont work to the benefit of American citizens, and hold corrupt ELECTED/APPOINTED  govt officials accountable , THEN the laws MUST be changed to serve our changing country.    These perps LAUGH at the people that put them in office.    IF noone is above the LAW, then neither are Supreme Court Judges...    Isnt it just Common Sense ?  

[Mavica]

1 hour ago, Suckrates said:

So, we can only hope that todays youth is tomorrows saviors and can CORRECT all this shit,  for THEIR sakes.    They see clearly whats happening, and dont seem to want to bury their heads or turn their backs like the previous generation has done.   

Not going to happen.  Nope.

[vinapu]

5 hours ago, Mavica said:

Not going to happen.  Nope.

this is what my grandfather used to say when we discussed politics in my younger years and talk about possibility of collapse of Soviet Union

[JKane]

 

 

 

 

 

 

[melbunz]

Watching this from home in Australia. Hard to believe that this behaviour could be tolerated and allowed to continue.  His and Hers cells should be in order.

[JKane]

 

 

 

 

 

 

[PeterRS]

Given that there is a minimum age at which an individual can become a US Senator, I wonder why there is no maximum age? WIth near gridlock in the US Senate, we have the spectacle of Senator Diane Feinstein at 89 seemingly desperate to hold on to her Senate seat while concerns about her physical and cognitative health are spreading like wildfire. If failing health means she cannot get from her California home to Washington, she puts her own party at major risk. She has already been absent since February and missed 60 of 82 votes.

She, though, beats Chuck Grassley on the other side of the aisle by only a few months. Presumably there is no maximum age because the framers of the Constitution in 1788 did not consider that many Senators would live above the average age at death which was then under 40!

But when you look at the Supreme Court there is not even a minimum age limit and few required qualifications. The youngest ever appointed as far as I can see was Joseph Storey in 1812 when he was 32. When nominated by George H W Bush, Clarence Thomas was 43 and had only been a judge for little more than a year. Yet Bush called him the "best person" to take the job, a recommendation massively derided. It was known Thomas was an extreme idealogue. Perhaps it was an 'up you' by Bush to those senators who had rejected and condemned Reagan's choice of another idealogue Robert Bork only 4 years earlier.

The point surely is: if the average worker has to retire from their jobs at an age of between 60 and 70 depending on where you live, why is there no maximum age for those who rule over us in Congress, parliaments and High Courts? Judges in the UK have to retire at 70 (although there is a remote possibility of extending to 75). Although there seems to be no mandatory maximum age for UK MPs, at present the oldest member of the UK's House of Commons is 78. One of the oldest ever was Winston Churchill who retired at 89. Of course the USA is a different country, but how is it - and why is it - that the Joe Bidens, Donald Trumps and Rupert Murdochs of this world are able to have positions of such power and so greatly influence events at an age when most of the world has not only had no choice but retire, a very large number are dead? 

[Keithambrose]

Judges in England now retire at 75, this change happened in 2022.

[PeterRS]

If that were the rule in the US, Clarence Thomas would have just two more months 🤣

[vinapu]

7 hours ago, PeterRS said:

 I wonder why there is no maximum age? WIth near gridlock in the US Senate, we have the spectacle of Senator Diane Feinstein at 89 seemingly desperate to hold on to her Senate seat while concerns about her physical and cognitative health are spreading like wildfire

..........

 and why is it - that the Joe Bidens, Donald Trumps of this world are able to have positions of such power and so greatly influence events at an age when most of the world has not only had no choice but retire, a very large number are dead? 

it looks that voters , rightly or wrongly  are not bothered with such concerns and voted them in. Murdoch is not in position of elected power and like Buffet owes his position to his money.

Problem with US Supreme Court is that Americans allowed their Supreme judges to become celebrities with warts and all and most of people can name more USA Supreme Court judges than of their own country, certainly my case. That's insane and has noting to do with justice.

 

[Suckrates]

Obviously, the laws in this country are F'd up and need serious revision.  Anything that is done can be Undone or changed, if the want and need to do so exists...

Clarence is an arrogant, angry man, and as we now know has done things that are INappropriate for his position as US Supreme Court judge.    And in doing so, he should have to be accountable and PAY the consequences.   Our govt SHOULD be able to take action against him,  without him sitting on his throne and laughing at America with his Nazi buddy.....,

Little by little we are seeing how this country appears to be the land of Opportunity,  but really, ONLY for some, that use and abuse it.....And there is absolutely NO equity in America.      Being governed in America should NOT mean "being taken advantage of"   and if the GOP were a REAL party of the people,  they would concentrate on the "wrongs" in govt, instead of committing them, and then holding neverending Hearings, to point the finger at someone else.   

America has turned into a sick, dysfunctional place to live.   .  

[alvnv]

https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTR3shCka/
 

[Suckrates]

3 hours ago, alvnv said:

https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTR3shCka/
 

All I've got to say about Ginnie and the pistachio nuts is "sometimes you feel like a nut. sometimes you dont"....  Nevermind gurl, you a NUT !  🤣

[reader]

7 hours ago, vinapu said:

it looks that voters , rightly or wrongly  are not bothered with such concerns and voted them in. Murdoch is not in position of elected power and like Buffet owes his position to his money.

Agree with you about the court but I have to come to the defense of Warren Buffett. My initial small investment in Berkshire Hathaway many years back now help finance my BKK travels.

Buffett, and his even older sidekick Charlie Munger, have continually displayed great acumen in finding good companies at the right price. Most readers may be surprised to learn that they have very likely flown on aircraft whose pilots were trained by Flight Safety International (a wholly owned BH subsidiary), the world's leading provider of commercial aviators in 135 aircraft types. And if you've ever enjoyed a Dairy Queen, you're helping the BH bottom line.

[vinapu]

2 hours ago, reader said:

Agree with you about the court but I have to come to the defense of Warren Buffett.

mentioning Buffet I did not meat it in any way requiring defence, it was just a well known  example, along with Murdoch , of a guy who own his position to other factor than elected officials 

[reader]

36 minutes ago, vinapu said:

mentioning Buffet I did not meat it in any way requiring defence, it was just a well known  example, along with Murdoch , of a guy who own his position to other factor than elected officials 

Thanks for clarification. I think I was reacting more to the mention of sleazeball like Murdoch in same sentence as stand up guy like Buffett.

[PeterRS]

21 hours ago, Keithambrose said:

Judges in England now retire at 75, this change happened in 2022.

Thanks for the clarification.

6 hours ago, reader said:

Buffett, and his even older sidekick Charlie Munger, have continually displayed great acumen in finding good companies at the right price. Most readers may be surprised to learn that they have very likely flown on aircraft whose pilots were trained by Flight Safety International (a wholly owned BH subsidiary), the world's leading provider of commercial aviators in 135 aircraft types. And if you've ever enjoyed a Dairy Queen, you're helping the BH bottom line.

Plus they own See's Candies. When in Taipei I always buy far too many of them, despite the expense!

[Keithambrose]

15 hours ago, PeterRS said:

Thanks for the clarification.

Plus they own See's Candies. When in Taipei I always buy far too many of them, despite the expense!

No problems, I am an English lawyer!

[Marc in Calif]

WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report)

Ginni Thomas has reassured the American people that she is doing everything in her power to keep her husband’s mounting ethical issues from interfering with her work on the United States Supreme Court.

Acknowledging that her husband’s controversies were a “distraction,” Thomas said, “They shouldn’t keep me from doing the important work I was sent here to do.”

“There are reproductive rights to shred and environmental protections to erase,” she said. “Regardless of the mess Clarence has gotten himself into, I need to keep my focus.”

Calling her post as Associate Justice of the Supreme Court “a job I’ve loved for the past three decades,” Thomas said, “I’m hopping mad that Clarence would do anything to jeopardize that. But anyone who thinks that I’m giving less than a hundred per cent to my work doesn’t know what Ginni Thomas is made of.”