Clarence Thomas Takes the Low Road, and Should Recuse Himself from Key Cases

Clarence Thomas Takes the Low Road, and Should Recuse Himself from Key Cases

By Brent Budowsky

Created Oct 2 2007 - 11:51am

The new term has begun for a bitterly divided court in a dangerously divided

nation, and the most visible event was a Supreme Court justice using the

court's return as a book promotion to remind the world of his enemies,

demons, biases and vendettas.

This is extraordinary and unprecedented.

Justice Clarence Thomas should now recuse himself from any cases involving

any litigants who opposed his confirmation, because his attacks on them

destroy any pretense of judicial impartiality. This is a man with a chip on

his shoulder, axes to grind and scores to settle.

There is no need to re-litigate the issues surrounding his confirmation, our

opinions of his tenure on the court or his various commentaries on divisive

political and social issues. Perhaps Justice Thomas would feel more

comfortable leaving the Supreme Court and running for public office - or

hosting a conservative radio talk show.

The bottom line is this: The essence of the highest court in the land is the

appearance and reality of judicial impartiality, with justices who stand for

judicial temperament, fairness and respect for the law without using the

forum of the court to settle scores with enemies or demonize those with whom

they disagree.

There will be litigants with cases before the court who opposed Thomas's

confirmation, and because Justice Thomas cannot control his urge to attack

them while he sits in judgment of them, he should recuse himself from cases

involving any of them.

[Editor's note: Brent asks that your crosspost your comments to The Hill,

where this blog entry also appears [1].]

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About author Brent Budowsky served as Legislative Assistant to U.S. Senator

Lloyd Bentsen, responsible for commerce and intelligence matters, including

one of the core drafters of the CIA Identities Law. Served as Legislative

Director to Congressman Bill Alexander, then Chief Deputy Whip, House of

Representatives. Currently a member of the International Advisory Council of

the Intelligence Summit. Left goverment in 1990 for marketing and public

affairs business including major corporate entertainment and talent

management. He can be reached at brentbbi@webtv.net [2].

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"A little patience and we shall see the reign of witches pass over, their

spells dissolve, and the people recovering their true sight, restore their

government to its true principles. It is true that in the meantime we are

suffering deeply in spirit,

and incurring the horrors of a war and long oppressions of enormous public

debt. But if the game runs sometimes against us at home we must have

patience till luck turns, and then we shall have an opportunity of winning

back the principles we have lost, for this is a game where principles are at

stake."

-Thomas Jefferson