CV NEWS FEED // Justice Clarence Thomas, the U.S. Supreme Court’s most senior justice who has served continuously since 1991, has been the subject of several recent personal attacks by left-wing media and even some Democratic politicians

Justice Thomas, who, in his own words, is “decidedly and unapologetically Catholic,” was part of the 6-3 majority decision in Dobbs v. Jackson, which overturned Roe v. Wade last year. He also wrote the majority opinion in NIFLA v. Becerra, the 2018 case that struck down a California state law that forced pro-life pregnancy resource centers to publicly promote and advertise abortions.

Thomas has endured attacks from the political left for some time. 

On June 24, 2022, in the immediate aftermath of that day’s Dobbs decision, the Catholic jurist was ambushed by a pro-abortion crowd who had assembled outside his personal residence. The demonstrators hurled slurs and profanities.

The onslaught of politically-charged attacks on Thomas has become more intense since then.

As the Washington Examiner reported:

Now that the court has a solid conservative majority, Democrats have redoubled their attacks on him, with the clear goal of undermining or disqualifying his judgments and, preferably, removing him from office.

The Examiner went on to describe how ProPublica, a self-described “independent, non-profit newsroom that produces investigative journalism in the public interest,” has pushed a narrative that Thomas is “corrupt.” 

The sole basis of this allegation is his friendship with Texas real estate developer Harlan Crow and the fact that Thomas and his wife Ginni have taken vacations with Crow and his wife Kathy.

ProPublica maintains that Thomas erred in not reporting these vacations as “gifts,” the Examiner reported:

This is false. People do not report generally “personal hospitality,” such as Thomas’s vacations. It wasn’t until mere weeks ago that the Judicial Conference issued new guidelines that said free trips and air travel must now be reported. This was announced as a change in policy, meaning disclosure was not required in the past but would be in the future.

On April 6, ProPublica Editor Jesse Eisinger tweeted a report by his organization, stating: “For decades, Justice Clarence Thomas accepted luxury gifts from a billionaire.”

A few hours later, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-NY, shared Eisinger’s post, adding: “This is beyond party or partisanship. This degree of corruption is shocking — almost cartoonish. Thomas must be impeached.”

Although ProPublica, like many mainstream news outlets, claims to be “non-ideological,” their most recent survey found that 89% of their readers identified as “liberal” while only seven percent identified as “conservative.” The Examiner noted that the organization has been primarily “funded by wealthy left-wing donors.” AllSides gives them a “lean left” political bias.

Justice Thomas responded to the corruption allegations:

Harlan and Kathy Crow are among our dearest friends, and we have been friends for over twenty-five years. As friends do, we have joined them on a number of family trips during the more than quarter century we have known them.

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.

These guidelines are now being changed, as the committee of the Judicial Conference responsible for financial disclosure for the entire federal judiciary just this past month announced new guidance. And, it is, of course, my intent to follow this guidance in the future.

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