ROBERTS MUST DEMAND THOMAS’ RECUSAL FROM LOPER BRIGHT

SAN FRANCISCO, CA (September 22, 2023) — This morning, a new ProPublica report revealed yet another instance of Clarence Thomas’s relationship with right-wing billionaires presenting a clear conflict of interest. Thomas reportedly attended at least two Koch donor summits, which, as ProPublica puts it:, “puts Thomas in the extraordinary position of having served as a fundraising draw for a network that has brought cases before the Supreme Court, including one of the most closely watched of the upcoming term.” That case is Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo, which threatens to upend the Chevron deference doctrine and, with it, much of the executive branch’s ability to promulgate necessary regulations. As the article lays out, “Koch network staff attorneys represent the plaintiffs” in Loper Bright, and Thomas has already flip-flopped his position on Chevron since supporting the doctrine in a 2005 case.

“We’ve already seen more than enough evidence proving Thomas is too compromised to sit on the Court at all. And history suggests that he will not recuse himself from cases even when clear conflicts of interest are present,” said Sarah Lipton-Lubet, president of Take Back the Court Action Fund. “The question now is whether Chief Justice Roberts takes a stand against this corruption by urging Thomas to immediately recuse from Loper Bright – or gives his implicit endorsement of Thomas’s unethical behavior by remaining silent. And in the meantime, Senate Democrats need to make good on their responsibility as part of a co-equal branch of government to call for emergency hearings on this pattern of corruption at the Court.”

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