A Massachusetts Democrat House candidate said she would file an impeachment resolution if elected, not against President Donald Trump, but against Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. On what basis? Sexual harassment allegations that were debunked decades ago.
That candidate, Barbara L’Italien, said the sexual harassment allegations against Thomas are an “elephant in the room for Congress in the #MeToo era.” “There is an elephant in the room for Congress in the #MeToo era. Our leaders have to start talking about it. Two of the most powerful men in the country have been credibly accused of sexual crimes and gotten away with it,” she said. “Laws cracking down on sexual assault have to be signed by a president who multiple women say assaulted them. Regulations to stop sexual harassment can be struck down by a Supreme Court justice who lied under oath to counter allegations of sexual harassment. Why would victims think a government like that is looking out for them?”
Why resurrect these long-discredited allegations against Thomas? Because of the stronghold that conservatives will have on the Supreme Court following the confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh.
According to the Washington Times, L’Italien said the promise would be part of a broad assault on sexual abuse at the highest levels of the U.S. government that also would include congressional hearings about claims made by many women about President Trump. At Justice Thomas’s confirmation hearings in 1991, Oklahoma law professor Anita Hill accused him of sexual harassment — one of the first such cases made against a public figure. Justice Thomas vehemently denied the charges, calling them a “high-tech lynching” against an “uppity” black man.”
According to Ms. L’Italien, there is “considerable evidence that Thomas lied under oath” about sexually harassing Ms. Hill. She did not provide any of the evidence.
Impeaching Clarence Thomas and holding Trump accountable are just the beginning of what Congress needs to do in the #MeToo era. Please check out my full platform for addressing sexual assault – and RT if you support: https://t.co/1ZOEibvcFl. #MA3 #mapoli pic.twitter.com/s1E8XRuGYV
— Barbara L'Italien (@teambarbara) August 29, 2018
Thomas is the most conservative justice on the Supreme Court, and when confirmed, Kavanaugh will be the second most conservative, according to an analysis of their prior legal rulings.
With him on the Court, conservatives will have a solid 5-4 advantage, and there’s roughly a 20% chance that Ruth Bader Ginsburg will die within the next two years, opening up another seat for a conservative justice.
This renewed attack on Clarence Thomas using discredited allegations is nothing more than an attempt to reduce the conservative influence on the court. The attacks on Kavanaugh have been even more desperate. Cory Booker said that those who vote to confirm Kavanaugh are “complicit in evil,” and sore-loser-in-chief Hillary Clinton said he’d take us back to the days of slavery. Of course, if Kavanaugh had a pro-slavery stance, the media wouldn’t be digging at the bottom of the barrel for dirt on him. Likewise, if there were a case for impeaching Thomas, long-discredited allegations wouldn’t be the only piece of “evidence” against him.
