Democrats Want Investigation Of Justice Thomas

Justice Clarence Thomas has never been a very good justice. His decisions are more likely to mirror his own personal right-wing politics than either the law or the Constitution. And he doesn't seem to care who knows that. He is a darling of the right-wing speaking circuit and never recuses himself when a case comes before the court that his wife (who works for a right-wing organization) or her bosses have an interest in.

That would be bad enough by itself, but it has become public recently that Thomas has been playing fast and loose with his filing of financial disclosures. To be specific, he has received use of a private yacht and airplane and did not disclose that as a gift or travel reimbursement. He has also failed to report his wife's income since he took the bench in 1991 -- and her income is significantly large. She has received hundreds of thousands of dollars from groups that want the health care law repealed, and that is coming to the court soon. Could Thomas really be impartial in considering that case?

At least 20 congressional Democrats are calling now for an investigation of Thomas' failure to disclose all of his financial affairs (as all elected and appointed federal officials are required to do by law). The Democrats want the Justice Department to investigate Thomas, and the letter they sent to the U.S. Judicial Conference says, "Due to the simplicity of the disclosure requirements, along with Justice Thomas's high level of legal training and experience, it is reasonable to infer that his failure to disclose his wife's income for two decades was willful, and the Judicial Conference has a non-discretionary duty to refer this case to the Department of Justice."

They are right. Either he is too incompetent to sit on the court because he didn't know the laws relating to his own job, or he crooked and intentionally tried to hide his wife's income. Either way, he should not be on the Supreme Court any longer.