Clarence Thomas by Jonah H.

 Does supreme court justice clarence thomas recent conduct with Republican donors warrant an impeachment hearing? 


A new scandal has recently rocked the United States of America's government. Clarence Thomas labeled the “most conservative justice on court”, has recently been found to accept gifts, of Republican fund money, given by multimillionaire Harlow Crowe, without disclosing certain details which violate, multiple transparency laws. This has caused much outrage from Democrats, and the public has been recently started to petition for an impeachment trial, which frames the question that I will answer today. Does supreme court justice clarence Thomas's recent conduct with Republican donors warrant impeachment hearings? And of course, we will be answering the question through three points, first of all, the background, second, the probability of a hearing, and ethically, should this man be impeached. 

Claren Thomas was found recently after a democratic probe looked into his past and inconsistencies that Thomas had accepted multiple million dollars, gifts and yacht rides, and luxury vacations. These were all funded by Harlowe Crow multi-millionaire and violate multiple significant disclosure laws. It found that Thomas flies on Crow’s Bombardier Global 5000 jet and holidays on Crow’s 162ft super-yacht. He has enjoyed holidays at Crow’s ranch in Texas and joined him at an exclusive all-male California retreat. The justice usually spends about a week each summer at Crow’s private resort in the Adirondack Mountains in New York. this does not only break laws but generally breaks a supreme court justice's morals too. Someone who uses their position that is supposed to humbly serve their country but instead uses it to get significant bonuses unethically and illegally is someone we do not want on the supreme court. 

The justice tried to defend himself saying, “Early in my tenure at the Court, I sought guidance from my colleagues and others in the judiciary, and was advised that this sort of personal hospitality from close personal friends, who did not have business before the Court, was not reportable,” Thomas said in the statement. “I have endeavored to follow that counsel throughout my tenure, and have always sought to comply with the disclosure guidelines.” however this does not seem the case, if he had actual good intentions then he would have been much more transparent about the situation. 

"The highest court in the land shouldn't have the lowest ethical standards," said Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin, who chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee. "This behavior is simply inconsistent with the ethical standards the American people expect of any public servant, let alone a Justice on the Supreme Court." this isn't even the only, time that Thomas’s ethics has been questioned, three times in the past he has broken ethics rules, and before being let into the supreme court sexual misconduct charges were against him. 

Now that we’ve explored the problem that this has created and the reason why there was such an outrage, let us turn our heads to my next point, the probability of an impeachment. 

The possibility, of impeachment, is highly unlikely. Only one Supreme Court justice in the country's history has been impeached: Samuel Chase, in 1804, for allegedly refusing to dismiss biased jurors from a politically sensitive case. Political realities in 2023 cast doubt on the likelihood of a similar fate for Thomas, with Republicans now in control of the House. Beyond impeachment, a trial in the Senate, currently held 51-49 by Democrats, would require more than a dozen conservatives to join in voting against Thomas. 

This means it's highly unlikely that the supreme court justice would be impeached for this behavior. In the long run, there have been many more serious scandals that have not led to impeachment, furthermore, most of the stigma and argumentation is coming from the democratic party, as they are looking for a way to gain more ground and undermine the Republican Party. So the chance of him getting impeached is highly unlikely. Finally, let's observe whether should clarence thomas be impeached for this. The short answer is yes: he should be impeached. In my opinion, we should not have someone that has broken many ethic laws, used his position to get free vacations, and been charged with sexual misconduct be in the supreme court.  This is not a man that the Republicans want to represent their party and this is not the kind of a man that we should have in the government. Now morally, this is a big problem, but politically, a horrible uneven gap would be created in the supreme court, if Thomas was removed, and would allow the democratic party much leverage. So, in conclusion, we can see that Mr Clarence Thomas, has violated severe ethics laws, and even though, should be impeached, is very unlikely, to say the least. 

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