After ProPublica and other news organizations exposed one damning revelation after another, it has become unarguably clear that Clarence Thomas is hugely corrupt, has brazenly and repeatedly violated disclosure laws and has shown utter contempt for the most elementary ethical standards. It’s deeply troubling that so few of our political leaders have called for the obvious moral response to this ever-widening scandal: Thomas should resign.
There’s been far too much shilly-shallying about all this. It’s not nearly enough to call on Thomas to belatedly comply with disclosure laws or to repay Harlan Crow, the billionaire rightwing activist who has showered $1m in favors on Thomas and his family. Thomas’s myriad violations are too serious, his contempt for ethics and conflict-of-interest rules too blatant, for us to accept half measures or slaps on the wrist. He has disgraced the court. It is time for him to go.
