Call Rep. Rangel: Urge a House investigation of Clarence Thomas' latest ethics violations.
Learn more about this campaign.
More than 215,000 people have signed our petition calling for the resignation of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. And we're making waves in Washington. Thanks to your activism, momentum is building behind an effort to hold Clarence Thomas accountable for his blatant disregard for the Judicial Code of Conduct.
Last Thursday, Congressman Chris Murphy penned a "dear colleague" letter, asking his fellow Members of Congress to sign on to an urgent request to Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith. This letter, spurred by the recent New York Times expose of Clarence Thomas' unethical relationship with rightwing funder and activist Harlan Crow, urges the House Judiciary Committee to hold hearings on escalating reports of unethical behavior by Supreme Court Justices.
Unfortunately, as of this morning, your member of Congress Rep. Charles Rangel has not yet signed on to Rep. Murphy's letter to the Chair of the House Judiciary Committee.
Shockingly, the Supreme Court is not legally bound by the code of conduct for federal judges, though Justices Breyer and Anthony M. Kennedy have testified to Congress that members of the Supreme Court voluntarily follow the code that explicitly prohibits justices from directly soliciting charitable donations.
It's not acceptable that Clarence Thomas and the U.S. Supreme Court are essentially above the law when it comes to ethics standards. That's why Rep. Christopher Murphy has introduced the Supreme Court Transparency and Disclosure Act.
Under this bill, the Judicial Conference Code of Conduct that governs the ethical behavior of federal judges would also apply to Clarence Thomas and the rest of the Supreme Court. Clarence Thomas would no longer be able to attend blatantly political events, participate in fundraising events or accept gifts by individuals or groups with business before the court.
We know letters like this can make a difference. When a Member of Congress like Chris Murphy takes a stand on a progressive issue, it gets more notice from the press, from his colleagues, and ultimately in this case from the members of the Supreme Court. We need to help Rep. Murphy get as many signatures on his letter as possible before he delivers it to the House Judiciary Committee next week. There is no reason why Rep. Rangel should not support this effort and put his name on the letter.
Here is the letter from Rep. Chris Murphy:
Dear Chairman Smith and Ranking Member Conyers:
We write to you today to ask that you hold a hearing on HR 862, the Supreme Court Transparency and Disclosure Act. This commonsense bill would go a long way towards restoring the public's confidence in the Supreme Court after several recent questionable actions by some of its members.
1 | 2
