U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) has just joined those Democrats who are calling upon the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) to open an investigation into alleged ethics violations by U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.
Sanders did so on Sunday during an appearance on MSNBC's Inside with Jen Psaki.
During his MSNBC appearance, Sanders said that he agrees with U.S. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse's (D-RI) call for Thomas to be investigated by the DOJ.
Sanders told Psaki:
I think that Sen. Whitehouse is on the right track. The Supreme Court does not have to go along with the same type of ethics rules that members of Congress and other judges do ... Some of what we are reading about in terms of [Justice] Thomas is really quite outrageous, and I think it needs to be investigated.
Psaki followed up by asking Sanders whether he is saying that the DOJ, in particular, ought to investigate Thomas.
Sanders assured Psaki that, "yes," this is indeed what he is saying. And then, Sanders suggested that his mind is already on impeaching Thoams.
"I think the first thing you want to do before you impeach somebody is investigate the situation, and I think it is what the Department of Justice should be doing," Sanders said.
Thomas has faced a lot of criticism following a recent ProPublica piece, which found:
For more than two decades, Thomas has accepted luxury trips virtually every year from the Dallas businessman without disclosing them, documents and interviews show.
The Dallas businessman is real estate magnate Harlan Crow. ProPublica goes on to argue that Thomas's failure to report some of the things that he did with Crow amount to an ethics violation.
Thomas responded to the report with a rare statement in which he referred to Crow as one of his "dearest friends" for a period of "twenty-five years." Thomas wrote:
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, however, went on to say that the "disclosure guidelines . . . are now being changed" and that he intends to comply with the changes.
Since Thomas's statement, there have been new allegations that he failed to disclose a real estate transaction that he did with Crow. Thomas has not responded to these newer allegations.
Many experts have opined that Thomas did nothing wrong or unusual here. But, for the Democrats, only one thing matters, namely, power. In this case, this means getting Thomas off the court by any means possible and replacing him with a far-left justice.
We'll see how this situation plays out. In the meantime, the U.S. Senate, this week, will hold a hearing on the ethics of the Supreme Court - a hearing that was orchestrated in response to the allegations against Thoams.
