Justice Thomas’s Ethics

No sign has emerged of what for us would be the basis of a real scandal — evidence that Justice Thomas was receiving gifts from an individual with a case before the court on which Justice Thomas was serving.

AP/Greg Gibson
Clarence Thomas is sworn into office by Justice Byron White, right, while his wife, Virginia, holds the Bible on October 19, 1991. AP/Greg Gibson

When Justice Clarence Thomas acceded to the high court, he  swore what’s called the Judicial Oath. It has always made us uncomfortable. The oath binds all our judges to “administer justice without respect to persons” and “do equal right to the poor and to the rich” and to perform all duties “incumbent upon me” as Associate Justice of the Supreme Court “under the Constitution and laws of the United States.”

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