Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse Requests Merrick Garland Investigate Clarence Thomas

Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) has requested that the Judicial Conference ask AG Merrick Garland to investigate the Clarence Thomas real estate deal.

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Sen. Whitehouse said on MSNBC’s The Last Word:

This all takes place under a federal statute, the Ethics In Government Act. And the personal hospitality exemption that has been in the news the last few years, few weeks is a feature of the Ethics In Government Act the requirement that Justice Thomas disclose real estate transactions in which he’s involved as a feature of the Ethics In Government Act and the ability of the attorney general to pursue a civil investigation and fines of anybody who violates that law is also a feature of the Ethics In Government Act.

So, I have asked the judge – head of the Judicial Conference to make the referral to the attorney general to open a file and do the basic factual investigations so there’s an official record of what really took place, and this stands on top of requests that’s already been made by the Campaign Legal Center with regard to all the previous potential violations of the Ethics In Government Act, up to the disclosure of the real estate deal.

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The point of requesting that Garland investigate these incidents is to put pressure on both Clarence Thomas and Chief Justice John Roberts. The Campaign Legal Center has already requested that the Judicial Conference refer Thomas to the DOJ for the illegal gifts and donations that he took from a Republican megadonor.

The Senate Judiciary Committee which Sen. Whitehouse is a member of, has already warned Roberts to clean up the court or they will step in and do it.

The Thomas scandal is not going to go away. Republicans and Roberts are hoping that the scandal blows over, but it looks like calls are only going to grow for Thomas to resign and get off of the Supreme Court.

Jason Easley

Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.

Awards and  Professional Memberships

Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association