Justice Thomas' Chances of Being Removed Laid Out by Ex-Prosecutor

The chances of removing Justice Clarence Thomas from the Supreme Court for ethical violations are remote, a former federal prosecutor has said.

Preet Bharara, a former New York federal prosecutor, said that impeachment of a judge is "exceedingly rare and unlikely to happen in near future."

Thomas is facing a Senate Judiciary Committee investigation for allegedly borrowing a billionaire's yacht to sail to Indonesia, getting money from a donor to buy a recreational vehicle (RV) and accepting trips from donors for 20 years.

Speaking on his Spotify podcast, Stay Tuned With Preet, Bharara said that the last time a Supreme Court judge was impeached was Justice Samuel Chase in 1804 and he was acquitted by the Senate, which votes on impeachment proceedings.

The House voted to impeach Chase on March 12, 1804, accusing him of refusing to dismiss biased jurors and of excluding defense witnesses in two politically sensitive cases. The Senate acquitted him in 1805.

Art 2 Section 4 of the U.S. Constitution states that the "President, Vice President and all civil officers of the United States" shall be removed from office if convicted in an impeachment trial of "treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors." Two clauses in Article I lay out the role of the House of Representatives and the Senate in impeachments and in trials of impeachment.

Bharara said that judges are also lawyers and that Thomas could face a hearing before an attorney bar association for ethical violations, just like any other lawyer, but this was less likely than impeachment.

A petition to impeach Thomas, organized by the public policy advocacy group MoveOn, reached over 1.35 million signatures by November 28. It calls for Thomas to either resign his post or face impeachment. The petition accuses him of pushing a right-wing agenda while accepting "hundreds of thousands of dollars in gifts from a right-wing megadonors" and questions his ethics. Newsweek emailed the Supreme Court for comment on Thursday.

In April, 2023 the ProPublica investigative website released a report that found Thomas and his wife had taken undisclosed trips, and other benefits, paid for by Harlan Crow, a Republican donor.

The trips reportedly took place over 20 years, and were not disclosed among the financial gifts that Thomas received. The judge later released a statement, describing Crow and his wife as "among our dearest friends." Thomas added that he was "advised that this sort of personal hospitality from close personal friends, who did not have business before the Court, was not reportable."

On July 9, the New York Times reported that Thomas had received a range of gifts from wealthy friends through the prestigious Horatio Alger Association.

A Senate Finance Committee report found that Thomas failed to repay a significant portion of a $267,230 loan given to him in 1999 by healthcare businessman Anthony Welters. The justice used this money to buy a luxury RV. Welters told the Times: "I loaned a friend money, as I have other friends and family."

"The loan was never forgiven," Elliot Berke, Thomas' attorney, told Reuters at the time. "Any suggestion to the contrary is false. The Thomases made all payments to Mr. Welters on a regular basis until the terms of the agreement were satisfied in full."

In September, Thomas said that he took three trips last year aboard Crow's private airplane. He did not acknowledge any earlier travel at Crow's expense, including a 2019 trip in Indonesia aboard his yacht.

Thomas said in a statement: "Early in my tenure at the Court, I sought guidance from my colleagues and others in the judiciary, and was advised that this sort of personal hospitality from close personal friends, who did not have business before the Court, was not reportable."

On October 30, the Senate Judiciary Committee revealed that it is trying to subpoena Thomas's Republican donors.

The committee said that some Supreme Court justices have been "joining billionaires with business before the Court on their private planes and yachts or receiving gifts such as private school tuition for a family member."

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin said the committee would vote on issuing subpoenas after the "intransigence" the donors have shown in refusing to come before the committee to explain their relationship with Thomas, the longest-serving member of the Supreme Court.

The donors include Crow; Leonard Leo, a former aide to the Trump presidency; and Robin Arkley II, who allegedly gave trips to Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. and the late Justice Antonin Scalia.

A representative for Crow told Newsweek via email on October 30 that any such subpoena would be "nothing more than a stunt aimed at undermining Justice Thomas, but his office would "remain committed to respectful cooperation and a fair resolution."