Supreme Court Justices Who Flaunt the Law and Violate Ethics Rules

Credit: BuzzFlash guest cartoon by fascART

This weekend, the Los Angeles Times covered this story: Clarence Thomas failed to report wife's income. Allegedly, Virginia Thomas earned $686,589 from The Heritage Foundation between the years 2003 through 2007 inclusive; but Justice Thomas did not report her income as required by Federal disclosure documents. In his 2009 disclosure, Justice Thomas reported spousal income as “none,” although his wife earned an unknown salary from Liberty Central in the same year.

In theory, federal judges are bound by law to disclose the source of spousal income, which can be interpreted as a violation. However, any penalty in the form of a fine or censure is unlikely according to judicial ethics expert Steven Lubet, who said: “"I am not aware of a single case of a judge being penalized simply for this."

According to Stephen Gillers, a law professor at the NYU School of Law, the Supreme Court is "the only judicial body in the country that is not governed by a set of judicial ethical rules." Nevertheless …

"Without disclosure, the public and litigants appearing before the court do not have adequate information to assess potential conflicts of interest, and disclosure is needed to promote the public's interest in open, honest and accountable government" (Bob Edgar, President of Common Cause).

If penalties in the form of fines, public censure, or even impeachment are out of the question, there is nothing that can prevent future abuses unless … we make a public stink and raise public awareness.  So lets get the framing right:

How can there be respect for the Law when Supreme Court Justice Thomas thumbs his nose at it!

Clarence Thomas is not the only Supreme Court Justice under scrutiny at the moment. Common Cause, a leading advocacy group, has filed a petition asking the Justice Department to investigate possible conflicts of interest by Justices Scalia and Thomas in the landmark Citizens United case, which reversed the ban on corporate funding of political campaigns. The petition seeks to disqualify Justices Scalia and Thomas from the case and vacate their decisions. In an earlier controversy, Justice Scalia refused to recuse himself from a case challenging VP Dick Cheney’s Energy Task Force after the two had gone duck hunting together in 2005.

In an era of seemingly endless chicanery at the highest levels of government, the American public is certainly entitled to a higher standard of conduct from the highest justices in the land.

Before I conclude this post, first a word on setting comment boundaries. No personal attacks on the justices or their spouses, no rumors about their private lives, and no Ann Coulter recipes for creme brulee.