Over 100 former law clerks of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas have written an open letter defending him from accusations of ethics violations.
In the letter, the clerks wrote that Thomas’ integrity is “unimpeachable” and that he’s never wavered from his independence on the court.
The letter recounted Thomas’ life story of being descended from African slaves, raised by his grandfather in segregated Georgia, going to law school, then eventually making his way onto the Supreme Court.
“It is a story that should be told in every American classroom, at every American kitchen table, in every anthology of American dreams realized,” the letter read.
The clerks wrote that despite this, Thomas has been targeted with “political headlines taking aim at his character, his judicial philosophy, his marriage, even his race.”
They said that these attacks are all aimed at undermining the integrity of the Supreme Court:
Lately, the stories have questioned his integrity and his ethics for the friends he keeps. They bury the lede. These friends are not parties before him as a Justice of the Court. And these stories are malicious, perpetuating the ugly assumption that the Justice cannot think for himself. They are part of a larger attack on the Court and its legitimacy as an institution. The picture they paint of the Court and the man for whom we worked bears no resemblance to reality.
The letter notes that the attacks compelled them to speak up on Thomas’ behalf.
“As his law clerks, we offer this response. Different paths led us to our year with Justice Thomas, and we have followed different paths since. But along the way, we all saw with our own eyes the same thing: His integrity is unimpeachable,” the former clerks say.
The letter comes in response to the deluge of media stories targeting mostly Republican appointees to the Supreme Court with ethics violations. These media stories began in earnest after several major Supreme Court cases on abortion and affirmative action went against the wishes of the Left.
Democrats in Congress have called for new ethics rules that would force Supreme Court justices to recuse themselves in certain cases.
This legislative initiative developed alongside the efforts of some Democrats and left-wing activists who have argued that President Joe Biden should pack the Supreme Court with nominees even though there are currently no vacancies.
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