Groundbreaking revelations from ProPublica, backed up by reporting from the Washington Post, the New York Times, and Politico, has heaped scandal on Clarence Thomas’s already stained reputation, begging the question, what will it take to impeach him?
Supreme Court justices are given lifetime appointments, ending when they either choose to retire, or die.
The constitutional process for impeaching a Supreme Court judge is similar to impeaching a president, or any other civil officer: the House votes for impeachment. If it passes with a simple majority, the Senate holds a trial, with a two-thirds vote needed to convict.
An impeachment must be substantively warranted, and on this point the constitution is vague. Article II, Section 4, mentions “Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors” as grounds for impeachment, without further defining the latter. Otherwise, officers “shall hold their Offices during good Behaviour.”
A brief list of Clarence Thomas’s ethical misdeeds
- Alleged sexual harassment. Thomas’s confirmation hearing in 1989 included testimony from lawyer Anita Hill, who alleged that Thomas had sexually harassed her when she worked for him at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. The incendiary hearings damaged Thomas’s chances, but he nevertheless squeaked by on a 52-48 Senate vote—a slim majority in the standards of the time—and was confirmed as an associate justice on the Supreme Court.
- Not disclosing tens of thousands in luxury gifts and financial favors from a prominent conservative donor. The gifts from Harlan Crow, over a period of two decades and detailed in a report by ProPublica, was in apparent violation of the Supreme Court’s reporting requirements, raising questions about Thomas’s conflicts of interest. ProPublica later reported that Crow bought three properties from Thomas, and paid the tuition for his grandnephew Mark Martin to attend an elite private school. Thomas did not disclose those payments.
- Potential conflict of interest about the political activism of his wife, Ginni Thomas. Thomas refused to recuse himself from election-related cases, even as Ginni Thomas lobbied legislators to overturn the results of the 2020 US presidential election, in support of former president Donald Trump’s untrue claims that he had won the election. Thomas was the only dissenting voice on a Supreme Court ruling on the Jan. 6 committee, in line with his wife’s activism.
- Tens of thousands of dollars in clandestine payments to Ginni Thomas. In a 2012 exchange, Ginni Thomas received a payment via a nonprofit, the Judicial Education Project, which filed a brief to the Supreme Court in a landmark voting rights case later that year. The deal was reported by the Washington Post on Thursday (May 4).
Has a Supreme Court justice ever been impeached?
Impeachment of federal judges is not unheard of, but rare. The most common charges have been making false statements, favoritism toward litigants or special appointees, intoxication on the bench, and abuse of the contempt power. Egregious crimes like sexual assault have also led to the removal of a federal judge.
In US history, 15 federal judges have been impeached and eight removed from office, while others have resigned in the wake of a scandal, according to Kimberly Wehle, a law professor at the University of Baltimore School of Law, writing in Politico.
There have been two attempts to impeach a Supreme Court judge; neither ended in removal. The closest was in 1804, when Samuel Chase, nicknamed “Old Bacon Face,” was impeached by the House, but not convicted by the Senate.
Any legislative attempt to impeach Thomas will have to begin in Congress. According to a list compiled by The New Republic, so far, 13 members of the House and Senate have called for Thomas’s resignation or impeachment.