A Remedy for Corruption on the High Court

Apr 19, 2023

A pair of new investigative reports from ProPublica about Clarence Thomas have fueled calls for the Supreme Court Justice鈥檚 resignation. The first bombshell story, 鈥�,鈥� highlighted how a wealthy man named Harlan Crow befriended Thomas after he became a U.S. Supreme Court justice and treated Thomas (and often his wife, Virginia 鈥淕inni鈥� Thomas) to luxurious vacations on a near-annual basis. Thomas did not disclose the trips as he was required to.

ProPublica followed that up just days later with another story whose title says it all: 鈥溾€� Now, groups like the Center for Popular Democracy are calling on Thomas to resign and for the court to be expanded.

Analilia Mejia, CPD鈥檚 co-executive director, spoke with 大象传媒 Racial Justice Editor Sonali Kolhatkar on Rising Up With Sonali about remedies to corruption within the Supreme Court.

The views expressed here and on Rising Up With Sonali do not necessarily reflect the opinion of 大象传媒 Media.

Sonali Kolhatkar joined 大象传媒 in summer 2021, building on a long and decorated career in broadcast and print journalism. She is an award-winning multimedia journalist, and host and creator of聽大象传媒 Presents: Rising Up with Sonali, a nationally syndicated television and radio program airing on Free Speech TV and dozens of independent and community radio stations. She is also Senior Correspondent with the Independent Media Institute鈥檚 Economy for All project where she writes a weekly column. She is the author of聽Rising Up: The Power of Narrative in Pursuing Racial Justice聽(2023) and聽Bleeding Afghanistan: Washington, Warlords, and the Propaganda of Silence聽(2005). Her forthcoming book is called聽Talking About Abolition聽(Seven Stories Press, 2025). Sonali is co-director of the nonprofit group, Afghan Women鈥檚 Mission which she helped to co-found in 2000. She has a Master鈥檚 in Astronomy from the University of Hawai鈥檌, and two undergraduate degrees in Physics and Astronomy from the University of Texas at Austin. Sonali reflects on 鈥淢y Journey From Astrophysicist to Radio Host鈥� in her 2014聽聽of the same name.