The year 2023 was tumultuous for Clarence Thomas, the senior Supreme Court justice, as ProPublica unearthed evidence of undisclosed gifts worth hundreds of thousands. Furthermore, an assertion surfaced that Thomas had allowed his wealthy friends to provide excellent services, such as covering his family’s private school tuition, providing rent-free accommodation for his mother, funneling money from right-wing advocacy groups to his wife, and even purchasing an RV for him.
The commotion caused seeped into the Supreme Court which seemed unwilling or unable to act on these violations, despite the continuation of a hollow and unenforceable code of ethics. However, developments hinted that someone was beginning to take notice…
While it’s been confirmed that the report of the Judicial Conference’s September proceedings – made public after demands from an ethics watchdog – doesn’t outrightly name Thomas, it would be difficult to interpret otherwise, considering the tide of letters received about Thomas, concerning his activities during this period. As the Campaign Legal Center observed, it constitutes a significant move that the conference took any action.
In the past, the Judicial Conference, which had previously examined Clarence Thomas for similar disclosures, ignored allegations related to undisclosed income from right-wing organizations to Ginni Thomas in 2011.
Critical as a concern, while the Judicial Conference is not in a position to impeach a federal judge, it can bring potential violations of federal disclosure law to the attention of the Department of Justice (DOJ) for further investigation. There are still significant obstacles between this initial step and any actual accountability.
Even though it appears to be a small step towards accountability in judiciary ethics, it’s nevertheless deserving of attention, considering the gravity of the issues at hand.