Weekly Spotlight: Thomas (unwittingly) Makes the Case for Court Reform

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We got news this week of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas’s failure to disclose yet another expensive and unethical gift: This time, it was a round trip from Hawaii to New Zealand in 2010 on billionaire benefactor Harlan Crow’s private jet. 

Our friends at Fix the Court estimated that Thomas may have accepted over $2.4 million in gifts over the past twenty years — and that figure doesn’t account for the likely dozens of undisclosed and unconfirmed trips (like the free yacht trip to Russia that came to light in July) that the justice has taken.  

Thomas has, again, unwittingly made the case for Supreme Court reform and the need for enforceable rules around disclosure. The new revelation came to light just after President Joe Biden called for major, unprecedented reforms for the Supreme Court, including fixed term limits and a code of conduct — changes we’ve long been pressing for. We’re glad that Biden has broken his long silence on the crisis of ethics at the high court. As Director of the Constitution Project at POGO Sarah Turberville said in Politico, presidential support of Supreme Court accountability “would help a whole hell of a lot.” 

INVESTIGATION

EPA Oversight of Drinking Water Infrastructure Spending by States

Newly obtained EPA documents detail the hurdles states face directing federal money to disadvantaged communities.

Read More

ANALYSIS

Schedule F Would Turn Its Back on Rural Communities

A looming policy proposal, Schedule F, would leave historically disinvested rural communities even further behind.

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OP-ED

We Don’t Know Where Federal Dollars Go. It’s Time for That to Change.

The government’s official public source for tracking and publicizing the spending data — USAspending.gov — has encountered serious issues with accuracy and quality control.

Read More on FEDweek

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

“There’s a real tension between the need, especially around national security, to reveal misconduct and wrongdoing, but at the same time protect national security.”

Danielle Brian, Executive Director, on Civics 101