Remember the Operation Greylord scandal, when 17 Cook County judges were indicted in the 1980s for taking bribes and other ethical lapses? Today, any of those Cook County judges who are still around probably are wishing they had been sitting instead on the U.S. Supreme Court, where the oversight appears to be significantly more lax.
According to a report from ProPublica, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas for more than two decades took undisclosed globe-trotting luxury trips that were hosted or paid for by Harlan Crow, a Dallas businessman who also is big-time Republican donor. Think about that the next time you read about an unpaid suburban library or park trustee who’s being criticized for inadvertently leaving something minor off an economic disclosure form. Some ethics law experts say Thomas violated federal disclosure rules.
