Free Republic

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.” On July Fourth, we celebrate much more than our independence from Great Britain. Our Founding Fathers risked their lives and reputations in the American Revolution to establish a government based on universal, permanent principles of justice. At the core of these principles was the claim of human equality. By equality, the Founders did not mean all humans possessed the exact same number or level of talents, virtues, or vices. Instead, they declared three basic truths flowing from and describing human equality. First, humans are equal in their...

Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) said Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union” that Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas was “profoundly disrespectful” when disagreeing with fellow Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson. Anchor Dana Bash said, “Thomas wrote, ‘Justice Jackson uses her broad observations about statistical relationships between race and select measures of health, wealth, and well-being to label all blacks as victims. Her desire to do so is unfathomable to me. It is an insult to individual achievement and cancerous to young minds seeking to push though barriers. Their race is not to blame for everything good or bad that happens in...

Justice Thomas wrote a nearly 60-page concurrence to express his horror at institutionalized racial discrimination in 21st-century America. Every Single Paragraph is Worth Reading. The Supreme Court’s Thursday decision in Students for Fair Admissions v. President and Fellows of Harvard College dealt an overdue blow to race-based college admissions, and some of the best punches were thrown by Justice Clarence Thomas in his concurrence. The court ruled that so-called “affirmative action” at Harvard and the University of North Carolina were in violation of the 14th Amendment and its application via the Civil Rights Act. Policies that discriminate based on race...

As RedState reported earlier, the United States Supreme Court ruled in a 6-3 vote Thursday that the race-based college admissions processes used by Harvard and the University of North Carolina (UNC) violate the 14th Amendment’s equal protection clause, effectively striking down the use of affirmative action programs in college admissions.In Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson’s dissenting opinion in the UNC case, Jackson, who was nominated by President Joe Biden to the Supreme Court in part based on a campaign promise to nominate a black woman, accused the court’s conservative majority of “let-them-eat-cake obliviousness,” proclaiming that the Justices “detached” themselves from “this...

The United States Supreme Court struck down affirmative action in college admissions in a 6-3 decision on Thursday, blocking higher educational institutions from considering race in admissions decisions.The centrality of race to the case prompted a war of words between the Court's two Black justices in their respective opinions, with each offering starkly different views of the role that race should play in decision-making by policymakers writ large.In his own 57 page long concurring opinion, Associate Justice Clarence Thomas — a staunch conservative appointed by Republican President George H.W. Bush — argued that "all forms of discrimination based on race...

On Friday night the Kansas Bureau of Investigation (KBI) reported that 30 Kansas legislators were sent envelopes containing white powder. KBI agents working alongside the FBI, KDHE, OSFM, Kansas National Guard, KHP, and several local police departments, sheriff’s offices, and fire departments have responded after mail was received by legislators and other public officials containing a suspicious white powder. As of Sunday night approximately 100 envelopes with white powder were sent to Kansas legislators and public officials. Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach also received a letter with the white powder. The media ignored this story over the weekend. President Trump...

Journal Editorial Report: 'Ethics' is the latest weapon against the Court's independence. Images: Reuters/Getty Images Composite: Mark Kelly The first attack in the left’s spring offensive against the U.S. Supreme Court was an April 6 ProPublica hit piece about Justice Clarence Thomas. The site quotes “ethics experts” who accuse him of violating federal law by not disclosing trips he had taken with a longtime friend. The accusation turns out to be old news that was adjudicated more than a decade ago.

Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) and Rep. Byron Donalds( R-Fla) unleash fury on The View host Joy Behar for claiming Black conservatives don't understand racism in the United States. For those who don't watch the liberal-filled panel talk about things they have no idea about, Behar insinuated that Black Republican Americans, including Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, "don't get" the struggles of being a U.S. African-American because they choose to ignore or never had to face systemic racism. "He's one of these guys, like Clarence Thomas, Black Republican, who believes in pulling yourself up by your bootstraps rather than understanding the...

I gave an interview about the Supreme Court justice that ended up on the cutting room floor. Here’s what the network didn’t air. A popular tactic of American politics, especially on the left, is to attack the character of those with whom you don’t agree. This was evident with the recent show “Clarence and Ginni Thomas: Politics, Power and the Supreme Court,” which PBS aired on May 9. A PBS producer emailed me last January about a planned documentary on the life and legacy of Justice Thomas, who used to work for me. The producer wrote that she wanted “to...

We’ve seen the left losing their minds over Justice Clarence Thomas going on free trips with a friend he’s knowFn for many years. Not only is there nothing improper about this, there isn’t any indication that it had to do with court decisions or that the friend tried to influence Thomas in any way.Why were the Democrats trying to throw things like this up against the wall on Thomas now? Because they want to do all they can to try to invalidate the Supreme Court, specifically by getting rid of Thomas. As Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) explained, this had nothing...

WASHINGTON — President Biden failed to list free vacations at the homes of businesspeople on his annual financial disclosure form this week — drawing a rebuke from ethicists and Republicans amid an ongoing political firestorm over Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas’ similar non-reporting of free trips from a businessman. Biden enjoyed three beach getaways at the homes of the wealthy and politically connected owners during the past-year reporting period. In two instances, Biden is known not to have paid the owner and in the third case it’s suspected the president did not pay. Ethics experts Walter Shaub, who led the...

The leftist campaign to force Justice Clarence Thomas from the US Supreme Court let its inner clown out when the executive director of the AstroTurf smear group Fix the Court inadvertently released the names of its donors to a Washington Examiner reporter.Fix the Court has not only been a player in the current attacks on Justice Thomas, but they were also a major participant in the smear campaign directed at Justice Brett Kavanaugh during his confirmation hearing.It all started innocently enough with Washington Examiner reporter Gabe Kaminsky taking a deep dive into the finances of the fake groups trying to...

VIDEOYeah, because when you want to be lectured on ethics, who better to lecture you than The Toob himself.

There’s one certainty in politics. If a Democrat is accusing a Republican of doing something, it is the Democrat who is inevitably actually doing it.That dynamic played out again Wednesday after a major revelation about Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor called into question all the recent left-wing attacks on Justices Clarence Thomas and Neil Gorsuch.For the last few weeks, a coordinated assault on the court’s conservatives has taken place, with numerous press outlets releasing reports supposedly detailing corruption. In reality, essentially everything charged amounted to nothing legally or ethically. In the case of Thomas, he was not required to report...

The United States Supreme Court unanimously rejected ethics complaints about Justice Clarence Thomas by Democrats. Sen Richard Durbin (D-Ill.), chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, sent a letter on April 20 requesting Chief Justice John Roberts appear for a hearing about potential conflicts of interest within the top court. The letter was signed by all 11 Democrats on the Judiciary Committee. The letter follows a ProPublica article about Justice Clarence Thomas reportedly receiving gifts from a billionaire conservative donor and friend. Justice Thomas has denied any wrongdoing. Democrats have also targeted Justice Neil Gorsuch for alleged ethical lapses. Durbin claimed...

A win for Geraldine Tyler, who is now 94 years old, would be a win for property rights.The Supreme Court on Wednesday heard arguments in a consequential case. The query before the justices: Was it unconstitutional when the government seized a woman's home over an unpaid tax bill, sold it for more than the amount of the debt, and then kept the profit? It may sound like a slam dunk case. Over the last several years, it has not been. But yesterday's arguments provided both a glimmer of optimism for the state of property rights in the U.S., as well...

Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts told Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin (D) on Tuesday that he will not testify before the committee. What is the background? After ProPublica raised new allegations of impropriety against Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, Durbin wrote Roberts requesting he come to a committee hearing on Supreme Court ethics reform. The letter claimed there is a "crisis of public confidence" in the judiciary and warned the "status quo is no longer tenable." "The time has come for a new public conversation on ways to restore confidence in the Court’s ethical standards," Durbin wrote. How...

Former Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer spoke out last week to support Justice Clarence Thomas. At an event for the U.S. First Circuit Court of Appeals, Breyer defended Thomas as a "man of integrity," casting doubt on allegations that Thomas is guilty of ethical — and even legal — transgressions. "As far as I’m concerned, I sat next to him on the bench for 28 years. I like him. He’s a friend of mine. I’ve never seen him do anything underhanded or say anything underhanded," Breyer said, according to Bloomberg Law. "My personal point of view is he’s a man...

This is Marisa Maleck We both went to the University of Chicago Law School, were members of the Federalist Society (she was President), worked on class projects, and went to church together She ended up clerking on the US Supreme Court for Justice Thomas and was a Partner at King & Spalding Unfortunately I learned that she died unexpectedly earlier this week She was a brilliant lawyer, a devout Catholic, a loyal friend, and a courageous warrior for conservative values I was planning to reach out to her soon to reconnect, but unfortunately now I can’t She was as kind...

Media reports on alleged scandals surrounding Justice Clarence Thomas reveal the Left’s desire to destroy his credibility, legal experts told the Daily Caller News Foundation. After the ProPublica report on Thomas’ acceptance of expense-paid trips from his friend, billionaire real estate developer Harlan Crow, which Thomas said his colleagues assured him was not reportable, multiple other reports were released accusing Thomas of wrongdoing. Lawyers told the Daily Caller News Foundation the reports are incomplete, amounting to a smear campaign aimed at swaying public perception, joining two federal judges who also criticized the reports this week. “With each new hit piece,...