Clarence Thomas’ failure to disclose gifts may be a ‘tipping point’ for SCOTUS: report

A longtime advocate for Supreme Court ethics reform believes revelations in a ProPublica report alleging that Justice Clarence Thomas failed to disclose years of gifts from billionaire GOP megadonor Harlan Crow could be a “tipping point” for new action.

Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) said the revelation is part of a broader pattern.

“Unfortunately, it’s both a pretty significant one and only a thread in a larger tapestry of improprieties,” the junior senator from Rhode Island said in an interview with MSNBC’s Jordan Rubin.

“But it does demonstrate how very out of whack the behavior of the justices can be compared to regular federal judges. I don’t think there’s another court in the country that would countenance a member accepting this kind of hospitality without reporting it. And it also puts a very sharp pin on the problem of a court that refuses to allow any investigation of itself where every other federal court in the country has a mechanism for ethics concerns to get investigated and resolved.”

Whitehouse was among 11 Democratic members of the Judiciary Committee who cosigned a letter to Chief Justice John Roberts stating the committee plans to investigate details of the report describing behavior that in their view is “plainly inconsistent with the ethical standards the American people expect of any person in a position of public trust.”

Whitehouse said the Supreme Court has shown an unwillingness to self-police, and he questions whether it even has the capacity to do so.

He cited the Latin phrase nemo judex in sua casa,” which he described as “an elemental principle of justice for centuries, that no one should judge their own case.”

“And I think that once the spotlight is on the fact that these justices have put themselves in the position of being exclusive judges in their own cases, it becomes untenable to defend.”

Whitehouse believes that time may have arrived.

“Yeah, you keep banging away at something and then one day the world changes and progress opens up. I hope that this is that day,” Whitehouse said.

“And two things could happen. One, we’ll explore what the Republican appetite is for fixing any of this. We’ve seen [Senate Judiciary Committee ranking member] Lindsey Graham [R, S.C.] express his concerns about the financial reporting discrepancy, for instance. And two, it sends a powerful signal to the court that it better get its own act together before we come in and start doing things.

“So this could be the tipping point where the chief justice decides it’s clean-up time at last over there in the Augean stable.”