CT Blue

Could it be that the Democrats are finally going to start fighting fire with—-well, let’s be honest, a tiny flicker of a flame.

Every lawyer knows that it is unethical for a judge to rule in a case in which the judge or a judge’s family member has a personal interest. Anyone who has familiarized themselves with the facts about Clarence Thomas’s failure to recuse himself in cases in which his wife has either a direct interest, or has been involved in advocating for a position of one of the parties, knows that he has engaged in unethical behavior on a regular basis. This was documented rather exhaustively by Jane Mayer of the New Yorker before the texts between Ginni Thomas and Mark Meadows were revealed. The fact that Clarence Thomas was the only judge who was interested in letting Trump get away with hiding evidence from the January 6th committee was a bit of a red flag, made all the redder by the disclosure of the emails. It is now the case, thanks to the emails, that Thomas can not deny any knowledge of his wife’s activities.

Need I say that if a left leaning judge were engaged in this sort of behavior we would never hear the end of it from Republicans, and the media would pound away on the story endlessly. For once, the Republicans would be justified. It would be just as unethical if one of our judges did it, but of course we know they wouldn’t.

At least some Democrats appear to want to keep the story alive, and bear in mind that if they don’t keep harping on it, the media will lose interest because after all corruption is what Republicans do and it’s no big story. The only way to keep it a big story is to take a page from the Republicans and persistently make an issue out of it. Just maybe, the Democrats are going to do that. Dick Blumenthal has called for Thomas to testify before the January 6th committee and Ron Wyden is calling for him to recuse himself from cases involving the January 6th insurrection and any cases involving the 2024 election.

It’s a start. Once Judge Jackson is confirmed, and that’s inevitable now that the loathsome Manchin has announced he’ll do the right thing, the judiciary committee should set its sights on Thomas and open an investigation. It’s important that they keep pounding and keep the issue in the news. At the start of the civil war one Southern Judge resigned when he decided to commit treason by supporting the confederacy. Thomas should be encouraged to follow his example.