Reid may be playing mind-games with the GOP here. Perhaps they have a great plan for scuttling (or at least severely damaging) Scalia -- hence the passing "ethics" mention. But maybe they know that they can't hurt Thomas -- what new will they throw against him? If they can discourage the GOP from nominating him, and discourage Thomas from accepting the challenge of going through the hell of these hearings again, then they will have eliminated the opponent they wanted to without having to risk alienating some blacks.
Yours is one of the most insightful posts on this thread. And contrary to the disparaging comments of Reid, Nat Hentoff, (honest and principled liberal) Constitutional scholar, thinks Thomas is one of the best things to happen to the SCOTUS in a long, long time. I doubt he would feel that way if Thomas' opinions were awkward, poorly written, or improperly reasoned. I support Thomas as CJ.
I love the mention of Scalia too, but he *may* have too much baggage with these ethics violations to survive the process. Either way, it will be a bloody fight, because that's just the way the left is.