Regunberg Calls for Impeachment of Clarence Thomas

Regunberg Calls for Impeachment of Clarence Thomas

Aaron Regunberg, Democratic Candidate for Rhode Island’s First Congressional District seat is calling for the impeachment of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, following a series of investigations uncovering Thomas’ undisclosed acceptance of expensive gifts and payments from conservative activists and donors with political and personal business before the Supreme Court.

ProPublica has led the investigative series, which has included "Clarence Thomas and the Billionaire" and "Clarence Thomas Had a Child in Private School. Harlan Crow Paid the Tuition."

“We cannot have real justice in this country when very wealthy people can so easily buy access to and favor from members of our highest court. That is why, as a candidate for Congress I am committed to supporting Justice Thomas’ impeachment, as a necessary means of reasserting public accountability over a justice who clearly feels himself above the law," said Regunberg. 

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He continued:

"Our legal system depends on the character and impartiality of its judges. I recently served in a federal judicial clerkship in the U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island, where I saw our judges routinely recuse themselves from cases where their potential connection to a party failed to even begin to approach the personal, let alone monetary, relationships in the least shocking of Justice Thomas’ scandals. Even I, a clerk, declined to work on several cases during my term because they dealt with issues about which I had previously been vocal as an activist and legislator.

But deeper court reforms are also needed to address the more structural problem that Thomas’ scandals illustrate. Our judiciary – the branch of government that is the least constrained by democratic safeguards – has become far too unrestrained and unaccountable in its wielding of power. Last month’s attempt by Trump-appointed district court judge Matthew Kacsmaryk to end national access to the abortion drug mifepristone is a prime example of the threats that come from giving outsized power to the least democratic branch of government.

To protect the rule of law in this country, members of Congress should bind the Supreme Court by the same code of ethics that applies to other federal judges. They should eliminate the power of a single judge, like Kacsmaryk, to issue nationwide injunctions. They should establish term limits for Supreme Court justices. And they should require a supermajority of the Court to strike down federal legislation. These reforms won’t be easy to achieve. But our democracy is worth the fight.”