The ethics controversy surrounding Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas has critics calling for his impeachment, the only way to constitutionally remove a sitting judge on the nation's highest court.
Thomas recently has been accused of taking luxury vacations paid for by Harlan Crow, a Republican donor, and for allegedly filing false federal disclosure forms, according to media reports.
“He has not only done nothing impeachable but he’s also done nothing actually wrong so there's no way they could possibly remove him,” said Carrie Severino, president of the Judicial Crisis Network and former Supreme Court law clerk for Thomas.
“They're trying instead to destroy his reputation," Severino added. "They're resorting to trying to destroy him in the minds of the American people and undermine his legacy on the court.”
Thurgood Marshall was the first black Supreme Court Justice, a Democrat nominated by President Lyndon Johnson. Thomas, named by former President George H.W. Bush to replace an ailing Marshall, is the first and only black Republican named to the high court.
After Bush nominated Thomas in 1991, his confirmation hearings were marred by accusations he had sexually harassed law professor Antia Hill when she worked with him at the Department of Energy and the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in the 1980s.
“This is just high-tech lynching, volume two,” Severino said. “They know they can't actually get him off the court just as they weren't able to block him from getting on the court 30 years ago.”
Severino expressed her concerns about the attacks during a panel, "The Jurisprudence of Conservative Supreme Court Justices," at the 2023 Republican National Lawyers Association (RNLA) policy conference earlier this month.
“If people's confidence in the Supreme Court is unjustly undermined, they simply aren't going to be willing to follow the decisions or become very cynical and will potentially stop voting,” she said.
Other speakers on the panel included James Rosen, author of "Scalia: Rise to Greatness: 1936 to 1986," and Mike Davis, an Article III Project founder and president. RNLA Board of Governors member Audrey Perry Martin served as the moderator.
Davis compared the political persecution of Thomas with the experiences of Justice Brett Kavanaugh after he was nominated by President Donald Trump in 2018.
“These justices have lifetime tenure, paid protection," Davis said. "They're not supposed to care about politics and they don't need a job ever again but you have to wonder if these attacks have an effect.
“When you're attacking a man at his one-year anniversary and when you're organizing protests outside of his home, you have to wonder because these judges are still human,” he added.