Calmes: Clarence Thomas' Jan. 6 conflicts of interest are showing again (via latimesopinion)
Tribe references, it’s toothless. The law holds that federal judges and the nine justices “shall” recuse in cases where a spouse has “an interest that could be substantially affected by the outcome” — as Ginni Thomas did in the election-denial efforts — and where their “impartiality might reasonably be questioned,” as Clarence Thomas’ is. Yet there is no way to enforce the law; it is entirely up to a judge or justice to decide if he or she must recuse.
“So Ginni can do political things that Clarence cannot,” Gillers, the law professor, told me, “and Clarence can do judicial things that Ginni cannot. Each can say that what the other does has nothing to do with them.”The conservatives have embarked on a crusade of judicial activism against a raft of precedents, and not just on abortion.
The law aside, Thomas’ nose-thumbing is unethical: He is voting in cases where he has at least the appearance of a serious conflict of interest. If he’s indifferent to the mistrust his actions breed about him, he should at least care about how they reflect on the court itself. Americans’Thomas’ failures to recuse have “reached the point that you’re hurting the institution,” says Gabe Roth, executive director of Fix the Court, a nonpartisan group seeking judicial accountability.
More cases related to the unprecedented assault on the Capitol are certain to come before the Supreme Court, and it’s become all too clear that Thomas intends to cast his vote on each. The record suggests his vote may not matter. Nonetheless, his conflicted participation undermines the standing of the court. And that does matter.
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