Saturday, February 05, 2011

Clarence Thomas' Wife Adds Reasons for His Removal From Supreme Court

Rather than being chastened by recent coverage of her inappropriate activities and her husband's failure to disclose hundreds of thousands of dollars of income, fundie wing nut Virginia Thomas is adding more ammunition for the argument that Thomas needs to resign from - or if need be, removed from - the United States Supreme Court. Her overtly political conduct - not to mention financial gravy train from far right groups is likely a first for the spouse of a justice on the Court - a justice who, in my opinion, in addition to being on the borderline of active corruption is a mental midget to boot. At the rate things are going, Thomas needs to have his photo next to the term "conflict of interest." The situation is truly outrageous and something needs to be done since Thomas apparently sees himself as above the law and ethical considerations that held sway for many decades. Here are highlights from the New York Times on Virginia Thomas' latest improper conduct:
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The wife of Justice Clarence Thomas, who has raised her political profile in the last year through her outspoken conservative activism, is rebranding herself as a lobbyist and self-appointed “ambassador to the Tea Party movement.”
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Virginia Thomas, the justice’s wife, said on libertyinc.co, a Web site for her new political consulting business, that she saw herself as an advocate for “liberty-loving citizens” who favored limited government, free enterprise and other core conservative issues. She promised to use her “experience and connections” to help clients raise money and increase their political impact.
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Ms. Thomas’s effort to take a more operational role on conservative issues could intensify questions about her husband’s ability to remain independent on issues like campaign finance and health care, legal ethicists said.
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Arn Pearson, a vice president at Common Cause, a liberal group that has been critical of potential conflicts at the Supreme Court caused by Ms. Thomas’s work, said her new position, combined with Justice Antonin Scalia’s recent address before a closed-door seminar of the Tea Party Caucus, provided further evidence of “the politicization of the court.” “The level of bias we’re seeing is really troubling,” Mr. Pearson said.

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