A Coalition of Citizen Groups Hold Demonstration at the U.S. Supreme Court Calling for Investigations and the Resignation of Justice Clarence Thomas

WASHINGTON, D.C. – On April 13, 2023, at 12 PM ET, engaged citizens concerned with protecting the true administration of justice, public confidence in the nation’s highest court, and the rule of law gathered at the front steps of the Supreme Court on First Street NE to demonstrate the need for Justice Clarence Thomas to resign, and for investigations to be held from the Senate Judiciary Committee.

The demonstrators formed a Coalition of Citizen Groups represented by: Defending Rights & Dissent, Get Money Out Maryland, Center for Study of Responsive Law, DC Poor People’s Campaign, and CodePink. For one hour, the Coalition raised placards and reasons why Justice Clarence Thomas must resign from his position of public service given ProPublica’s April 6 report detailing Justice Clarence Thomas’s unethical relationship with billionaire Harlan Crow. Demonstrators marched from the Supreme Court to the Hart Senate Office Building to the offices of Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) to demand Congressional Hearings be held investigating the depth of Justice Thomas’s troubling behavior.

The U.S. Supreme Court must be above suspicion. Justice Clarence Thomas is suspect for paling around with billionaire Harlan Crow for twenty (20) years on his private jets, ostentatious yachts, and opulent mansions while cynically proclaiming a preference for Walmart parking lots and RV parks while refusing to end the torrent of Mr. Crow’s multi-million dollar gifts. Justice Thomas has made himself beholden to the one percent at the expense of the ninety-nine percent. The Justice will not bite the hand that feeds him and his wife.

Justice Abe Fortas resigned in 1969 to save the Supreme Court from embarrassment and disrespect caused by his ethical insensitivities. Justice Thomas should follow the Fortas example and resign. Public confidence in the Supreme Court is too important to be left to Justice Thomas’s craving to live like a billionaire. The Senate Judiciary Committee must hold hearings without tarry to unearth the full magnitude of gifts Mr. Crow has showered on Justice Thomas and existing ulterior motives. Start with Mr. Crow’s testimony under oath followed by testimonies of federal district and circuit court judges for their evaluations of Justice Thomas’s ethics.

Clarence Thomas must resign to promote public confidence in the administration of justice