News/Commentary

Clarence Thomas: DC a ‘hideous place’ where ‘people pride themselves in being awful’

May 12, 2024 | | Print Article

Washington D.C. is a “hideous” place where people “pride themselves” in doing “awful” things, simply because they can, according to Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.

Speaking Friday at the 11th US Circuit Court of Appeals conference in Point Clear, Alabama, Thomas pushed back against the “nastiness” and “lies” his critics have directed his way, CNN reports.

“Being in Washington, you have to get used to particularly people who are reckless,” the high court’s most senior associate justice said. “They don’t bomb you, necessarily, but they bomb your reputation or your good name or your honor.”

“And that’s not a crime,” he added, “but they can do as much harm that way.”

“Thomas, while not speaking directly to a series of reports about ethics that have plagued him for months, repeatedly returned to his critics without prompting from US District Judge Kathryn Kimball Mizelle, who moderated the discussion,” according to CNN.

“My wife and I, the last two or three years, it’s been – just the nastiness and the lies – it’s just incredible,” he said.

As BizPac Review has reported, the mainstream media has been particularly nasty.

In February, Newsweek called the black justice “an enemy of black people” whose “betrayals began before he was on the Supreme Court.”

The op-ed, written by Ameshia Cross, claimed that after he “escaped accountability” for Anita Hill’s unproven allegations that he sexually harassed her, “the gift he gave Black America in return was aiding and abetting white supremacy while cloaked in a judicial robe.”

“Thomas and his wife, Ginni, have been the target of a good deal of criticism in recent years,” CNN reports. “Several of Thomas’ critics, including Democratic members of Congress, have called on him to recuse himself from Supreme Court cases involving the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol because of his wife’s efforts to reverse the 2020 presidential election in former President Donald Trump’s favor.”

“Ginni Thomas has acknowledged attending Trump’s rally before the Capitol attack,” the outlet adds.

“Thomas has also faced criticism for accepting private jet travel and posh vacations from Republican megadonor Harlan Crow, first reported by ProPublica,” CNN notes. “In response to the blowback, Thomas updated his financial disclosure forms, and the Supreme Court adopted a code of conduct for the first time last year.”

“I think what you’re gonna find, and especially in Washington, [is] people pride themselves in being awful,” Thomas told the Alabama crowd. “It is a hideous place, as far as I’m concerned.”

The justice said he enjoys visiting places where people “don’t pride themselves in doing harmful things merely because they have the capacity to do it.”

Despite the criticisms hurled his way, Thomas said he would not return “nastiness for nastiness.”

“You have some choices,” he said. “You don’t get to prevent people from doing horrible things or saying horrible things.”

“[T]hey can’t change you,” Thomas said, “unless you permit that.”

Thomas is “100% correct,” one user wrote on X. “Our government is hideous.”

“DC is rotten to the core starting at the top,” said another. “I’m being generous when I simply describe the administration as rotten to the core.”

“Lived there for 17 years, couldn’t agree more,” a third stated. “That city is full of truly toxic people.”

In all, Thomas’s remarks were well received by many.

“I now like him even more,” one user said, “and I didn’t think that was possible.”

Melissa Fine
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