On
Monday George Washington University professor and Constitutional law expert
Jonathan Turley criticized the wife of Justice Clarence Thomas for her ever-increasing
role in Tea-Bagger political activism.
"It's,
in a word, injudicious," Turley,, said on MSNBC's Countdown with Keith Olbermann.
"The fact that this is news is an example of the self-restraint used by
most spouses of Supreme Court Justices previously." He said it's not much
to expect for spouses to try to refrain from direct political activism,
particularly to start a group like this so far into her husband's tenure."
Turley
noted that neither Justice Thomas nor his wife are violating any ethics laws,
but asserted her actions were rather unseemly and could raise questions about
the impartiality of the Court's justices, whose only role is to uphold the
constitution.
The Los Angeles Times brought the story to the nation's
attention on Sunday:
In
January, Virginia Thomas created Liberty Central Inc., a nonprofit lobbying
group whose website will organize activism around a set of conservative
"core principles," she said.
The
group plans to issue score cards for Congress members and be involved in the
November election. Thomas said the group would accept donations from corporations,
as allowed under campaign finance rules recently loosened by the Supreme Court.
Thomas's
group will benefit financially from the Citizens United ruling,
which her husband's vote helped secure. Liberty Central pledges on its Web site
to "preserve freedom and reaffirm the core founding principles" as
well as help citizens "make a difference in the fight for liberty and
against the liberal Washington agenda."
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