# Impeach Clarence Thomas **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [February 13, 2011, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/impeach-clarence-thomas/571177 "2011-02-13T00:07:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2011, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/impeach-clarence-thomas/571177/1 "2011-02-13T00:07:44Z")
Since we cannot quote an entire page for copyright reasons I direct you to this page: [Petition · Impeach Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas · Change.org](http://www.change.org/petitions/impeach-supreme-court-justice-clarence-thomas) It is not long to read so hopefully that is ok for this. So, explain to me how Clinton gets impeached for a blowjob (oh yeah…lying to Congress about a blowjob) yet Thomas can engage in five years of falsifying information to the government and that passes? Discuss amongst yourselves. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2011, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/impeach-clarence-thomas/571177/2 "2011-02-13T00:10:50Z")
The House of Representatives would have to draw up the articles of impeachment, and I really don’t see them doing that. ---
**Author:** ![Contrapuntal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e274bd/32.png) [@Contrapuntal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Contrapuntal)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2011, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/impeach-clarence-thomas/571177/3 "2011-02-13T00:17:35Z")
I’m no fan of Thomas, but that link is poorly written with nothing to support it’s accusations. A shred of evidence for the charges would be helpful in convincing me to sign it. ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2011, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/impeach-clarence-thomas/571177/4 "2011-02-13T00:29:17Z")
Yeah, Thomas is probably my least favorite Justice, but where’s the beef here? All I see are unsubstantiated allegations from some news source I never heard of. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2011, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/impeach-clarence-thomas/571177/5 "2011-02-13T00:31:59Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > So, explain to me how Clinton gets impeached for a blowjob (oh yeah…lying to Congress about a blowjob) yet Thomas can engage in five years of falsifying information to the government and that passes? Clinton is a Democrat, Thomas is a Republican; simple as that. Bush II wasn’t impeached either despite doing far worse things than either - because he’s a Republican. ---
**Author:** ![Shmendrik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Shmendrik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shmendrik)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2011, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/impeach-clarence-thomas/571177/6 "2011-02-13T00:36:24Z")
Not to digress too much, but are there any cases of online petitions like this actually accomplishing anything? ---
**Author:** ![1step4word](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/1/cc9497/32.png) [@1step4word](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/1step4word)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2011, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/impeach-clarence-thomas/571177/7 "2011-02-13T00:51:06Z")
If there is evidence I would like to see it, but it looks just looney lefty website. ---
**Author:** ![TravisFromOR](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/cc9497/32.png) [@TravisFromOR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TravisFromOR)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2011, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/impeach-clarence-thomas/571177/8 "2011-02-13T01:05:55Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > Clinton is a Democrat, Thomas is a Republican; simple as that. Bush II wasn’t impeached either despite doing far worse things than either - because he’s a Republican. Far worse? Like what? What high crime and/or misdemeanor did Bush commit? (Note: being a lousy president and an asshole is neither of those.) ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2011, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/impeach-clarence-thomas/571177/9 "2011-02-13T01:35:25Z")
> [@Contrapuntal](#): > > I’m no fan of Thomas, but that link is poorly written with nothing to support it’s accusations. A shred of evidence for the charges would be helpful in convincing me to sign it. Ok… > [@](#): > > U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Clarence Thomas said Monday that he had misunderstood the filing and reporting instructions when he failed for 13 years to properly disclose his wife’s income on federal financial forms. The justice then formally amended each of his forms, spanning the years 1997-2009, the accurate contents of which are required from the justices under the Ethics in Government Act. > > Justice Thomas, an appointee of George H.W. Bush who is now in his 20th year on the high court, was put on the defensive over the weekend following a widely circulated report in Friday’s Los Angeles Times that indicated he had failed to properly disclose nearly $700,000 of his wife’s income from the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank at which Virginia Thomas worked from 2003 to 2007. > > SOURCE: [http://www.politicsdaily.com/2011/01/24/justice-clarence-thomas-amends-1997-2009-financial-forms/](http://www.politicsdaily.com/2011/01/24/justice-clarence-thomas-amends-1997-2009-financial-forms/) ---
**Author:** ![China\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2011, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/impeach-clarence-thomas/571177/10 "2011-02-13T02:38:26Z")
Whack - I suggest you do a little internet research and actually outline the challenges instead linking to an impeach Thomas website that is poorly written and misses several \*additional \*aspects. And why drag Clinton into it? No need to compare and let others pick nits when you could just make a clear case that Thomas at a minimum has the appearance of impropriety? FWIW, I spent at least 20 minutes researching related links and information in this [thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=595989&page=2). ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2011, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/impeach-clarence-thomas/571177/11 "2011-02-13T02:39:42Z")
> [@TravisFromOR](#): > > Far worse? > > Like what? > > What high crime and/or misdemeanor did Bush commit? Repeatedly lying to Congress is a felony - and he lied about far more important things than sex. And war crimes. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2011, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/impeach-clarence-thomas/571177/12 "2011-02-13T02:51:15Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > Repeatedly lying to Congress is a felony I like the way you put “repeatedly” in there like that mattered, and somehow added credibility to a demonstrably false statement. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2011, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/impeach-clarence-thomas/571177/13 "2011-02-13T02:52:08Z")
> [@China\_Guy](#): > > Whack - I suggest you do a little internet research and actually outline the challenges instead linking to an impeach Thomas website that is poorly written and misses several \*additional \*aspects. And why drag Clinton into it? No need to compare and let others pick nits when you could just make a clear case that Thomas at a minimum has the appearance of impropriety? > > FWIW, I spent at least 20 minutes researching related links and information in this [thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=595989&page=2). I dragged Clinton into it because if Congress has seen fit to impeach a sitting president (which I deem a step up from SCOTUS justice) for lying to congress about a blowjob after they spent years investigating him with a microscope and that was the best they could manage then impeaching a justice for clear violations of federal law over years should be a no brainer. I have not read the SDMB thread you linked to and am not sure what I should be looking for there. Can you be more specific? ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2011, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/impeach-clarence-thomas/571177/14 "2011-02-13T02:54:55Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > I like the way you put “repeatedly” in there like that mattered, and somehow added credibility to a demonstrably false statement. Ah. So stocks of WMDs, those mobile WMD labs and fleets of drones were all found when I wasn’t looking? ---
**Author:** ![villa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/bc79bd/32.png) [@villa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/villa)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2011, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/impeach-clarence-thomas/571177/15 "2011-02-13T02:57:56Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > Repeatedly lying to Congress is a felony - and he lied about far more important things than sex. And war crimes. I was under the impression that lying to Congress **under oath** (and with other factors, such as the materiality of the lies) was a felony. I wasn’t aware that simply lying to Congress was a felony, though I stand willing to be corrected. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2011, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/impeach-clarence-thomas/571177/16 "2011-02-13T03:00:10Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > Ah. So stocks of WMDs, those mobile WMD labs and fleets of drones were all found when I wasn’t looking? There’s another alternative for why your statement was factually incorrect, and that has nothing to do with the veracity of information Bush provided to Congress. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2011, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/impeach-clarence-thomas/571177/17 "2011-02-13T03:03:03Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > I like the way you put “repeatedly” in there like that mattered, and somehow added credibility to a demonstrably false statement. Why doesn’t “repeatedly” matter? I suspect in the lofty atmosphere of the presidency there are a many little lies that get told. I am not sure anyone really wants to adhere to an absolute letter of the law that any lie, whatsoever and no matter how small, is sufficient to oust a sitting president. Most people understand that occasionally people lie but when that person becomes rampant in their lies, as Bush did, with such dire consequences as Bush’s lies had, then it is appropriate to take notice. The Republicans set the bar with Clinton on what is apparently ok to impeach on. They spent years investigating Whitewater and other issues. Best their investigator came up with? Clinton lied about a blowjob. Fine. Standard set. Tell me how Thomas’ actions are lesser and do not merit the same treatment. ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2011, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/impeach-clarence-thomas/571177/18 "2011-02-13T03:03:54Z")
> [@TravisFromOR](#): > > Far worse? > > Like what? > > What high crime and/or misdemeanor did Bush commit? > > (Note: being a lousy president and an asshole is neither of those.) [http://www.impeachbush.tv/](http://www.impeachbush.tv/) Conyers offered a 539 page indictment of Bush’s impeachable offenses. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2011, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/impeach-clarence-thomas/571177/19 "2011-02-13T03:12:28Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > Why doesn’t “repeatedly” matter? > > I suspect in the lofty atmosphere of the presidency there are a many little lies that get told. I am not sure anyone really wants to adhere to an absolute letter of the law that any lie, whatsoever and no matter how small, is sufficient to oust a sitting president. > > Most people understand that occasionally people lie but when that person becomes rampant in their lies, as Bush did, with such dire consequences as Bush’s lies had, then it is appropriate to take notice. It’s still not a “felony”, as was claimed. > [@](#): > > The Republicans set the bar with Clinton on what is apparently ok to impeach on. They spent years investigating Whitewater and other issues. Best their investigator came up with? Clinton lied about a blowjob. > > Fine. Standard set. > > Tell me how Thomas’ actions are lesser and do not merit the same treatment. Eh. Impeachment just doesn’t happen very often. Do you see Rangel being impeached? ---
**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2011, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/impeach-clarence-thomas/571177/20 "2011-02-13T03:13:34Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > I dragged Clinton into it because if Congress has seen fit to impeach a sitting president (which I deem a step up from SCOTUS justice) for lying to congress about a blowjob Wrong. Clinton was impeached for perjury and obstruction of justice during a sworn deposition in the Paula Jones sexual harassment lawsuit. Also got cited for contempt, fined $90,000.00, and got his license to practice law suspended for 5 years. Had he not been a sitting POTUS, he may have been prosecuted and sent to prison if convicted. [Wikipedia link](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impeachment_of_Bill_Clinton) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/impeach-clarence-thomas/571177.md?page=2)