Democrats are furious at Clarence Thomas -- but can't agree what they should do
Congressional Democrats are furious that Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas ruled on cases regarding Donald Trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 election, despite his wife's involvement, but they're unsure what to do about it.
A number of Democrats have called on Thomas to recuse himself from future cases involving the election or Jan. 6 insurrection, and some have asked Chief Justice John Roberts to establish binding ethical guidelines, while a few lawmakers have said Thomas should resign, reported The Daily Beast.
“Everything has to be on the table," said Rep. Mondaire Jones (D-NY). “It is the prerogative of Congress to conduct oversight of the federal judiciary."
Some lawmakers have proposed an investigation by the House Judiciary Committee, or even drafting articles of impeachment, and nearly all Democrats back the passage of ethics reform for the Supreme Court, which is the only U.S. court without one.
RELATED: The Supreme Court has a giant legitimacy crisis -- which means so does America
“That has gotten lost in the noise,” said Jones, who has asked for committee hearings. “There's not enough education around that. It's actually not a gray area.”
But some Democrats have cooled on the idea of impeachment, saying it would distract from the House select committee.
“The Jan. 6 committee has a lot of irons in the fire, including Ginni Thomas,” said Rep. Hank Johnson (D-GA), “and I think that anything that interferes with their work is not something that I support.”
Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD), who serves on the select committee and was one of the impeachment managers in Trump's second trial, said a Thomas impeachment would "water down" the meaning of that consequence.
“Let's save it for extreme episodes of crimes against the union, the kind that Donald Trump is accused of,” Raskin said.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), who was among 20 Democrats who sent a letter to Roberts calling for ethics reform, said she preferred to focus on concrete actions.
“We need to put regulation in place,” Warren said. “We needed to do it long before this scandal arose… but this scandal may be the impetus to get it done.”