Opinion: The Thomas scandal exemplifies the rot spoiling our democracy

Her amusing candor underscores a critical weakness in our politics: We lack institutional mechanisms to restrain and punish public figures who don’t ethically police themselves.

Justices don’t hold news conferences or make themselves available to the media — except for when they are hawking books or attacking critics. No one can force them to explain any decision they make.

The Supreme Court also has no mandatory code of ethics. If it did, there would be no enforcement mechanism. While the chief justice nominally has responsibility for protecting the federal judiciary (e.g., by issuing an annual report), he cannot force his colleagues to behave appropriately. Congress refuses to address the lifetime tenure afforded to members of the Supreme Court, so justices who flout the ethics rules that lower courts must follow can remain on the bench for decades, accountable to no one.

Indeed, even if lawmakers decided to investigate impropriety on the high court, Congress lacks enforcement power of subpoenas to compel testimony. Should the House Judiciary Committee attempt to investigate the Thomas matter, Republicans would no doubt turn it into a partisan circus. And if House Democrats found actual wrongdoing and attempted to impeach Thomas, removal would be impossible in this era of hyper-partisanship. Aside from the letter that two dozen Democratic House and Senate members sent to Clarence Thomas and Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. requesting answers about Thomas’s failure to recuse himself from cases having to do with the 2020 election, expect no serious congressional effort to get to the bottom of this.

It’s unlikely that either Thomas will face consequences for their conduct. The House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection wants to speak to Clarence Thomas’s wife, Virginia “Ginni” Thomas, about the messages she exchanged with then-White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows urging him to pursue strategies to overturn the 2020 election results. But if she joins other witnesses in snubbing the committee, she might escape answering questions under oath. Even if Congress votes to hold her in contempt, the Justice Department might not prosecute her. (Whatever happened to the contempt citation against Meadows for failing to cooperate with the Jan. 6 committee?)

Meanwhile, Republicans have deflected questions about the Thomas duo or avoided comment altogether. Instead of bird-dogging lawmakers about the damage these revelations do to the Supreme Court’s credibility, reporters spend days badgering the White House about President Biden’s expression of moral outrage over Russian dictator Vladimir Putin remaining in power. As a result, Republicans escape questions about the Thomas scandal, allowing the story to fade away.

Indeed, Republican lawmakers and candidates often escape commenting on a host of GOP misconduct, such as disgraced former president Donald Trump’s latest request for the Kremlin to supply dirt on his political opponents. Instead, Republicans appear on the Sunday shows free from fear of being seriously challenged on these issues.

No wonder we have witnessed the slow deterioration of our democracy. When all three branches of government and the media fall down on the job, our sensitivity to political misconduct dulls. Bad actors run amok — and are reelected.