Is U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas fit to serve on the nation's highest judicial body? Recent revelations suggest the judge is ethically challenged, and it may be time for him to step down.
A recent article in the New York Times describes Thomas's dealings with Harlan Crow, a Texas real-estate mogul and financier of right-wing causes to the tune of $5 million. Mr. Crow is a friend of the Bush family who contributed $100,000 to Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, the group that was formed to attack the Vietnam war record of 2004 Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry. Crow also gave $500,000 to an organization that ran advertisements supporting the confirmation of President George W. Bush's Supreme Court nominees.
Apparently, Clarence Thomas was not left out of Harlan Crow's philanthropic endeavors, as the justice has received favors from Crow over the years. Thomas reportedly solicited funds from Crow to fund the judge's pet project, including a museum in his native Pin Point, Georgia. Mr. Crow gave Thomas a bible worth $19,000 that once belonged to Frederick Douglass. When Crow was a trustee at the American Enterprise Institute, the organization gave Thomas a $15,000 bust of Abraham Lincoln in 2001.
And according to the Times, Crow gave Ginni Thomas, wife of the associate justice, $500,000 in seed money to start a Tea Party group called Liberty Central -- which fought to repeal President Obama's health insurance reform law. According to Ginni Thomas, that law is unconstitutional. And it is foreseeable that as a member of the Supreme Court, Justice Thomas would be placed in a position to rule on the unconstitutionality of said law. That is, unless he decided to recuse himself, and there's no indication he would do such a thing.
Read more at source
0 comments:
Post a Comment