On Thursday, left-wing website ProPublica published a hit piece on Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas alleging that his repeated vacationing with a personal friend over the years violated judicial ethics and financial disclosure requirements, prompting Democrats to feign outrage and call for his impeachment. The allegations are weak and will, of course, go nowhere.
But it’s curious that this hit piece came out mere days after we learned that Acting New York County Supreme Court Justice Juan Manuel Merchan, who is overseeing President Donald Trump’s criminal case in New York, donated to Joe Biden’s 2020 presidential campaign. And not only that, his daughter worked for Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign.
According to Federal Election Commission (FEC) records, Judge Merchan made three donations to ActBlue during the summer of 2020. One of these donations, made on July 26th, was specifically designated for President Joe Biden’s 2020 presidential campaign. The other two, made the following day, were earmarked for Progressive Turnout Project (PTP), a PAC meant to boost left-wing turnout, and Stop Republicans, a PTP grassroots effort, that — no joke — is “dedicated to resisting the Republican Party and Donald Trump.”
Judge Merchan's daughter, Loren, previously worked for Kamala Harris's 2020 presidential campaign as "Director of Digital Persuasion," according to her deleted LinkedIn page, which listed her pronouns. pic.twitter.com/e113tWPQ3G
— Mia Cathell (@MiaCathell) April 4, 2023
The donations are small potatoes — they amount to $35 combined — but make no mistake about it, they are nevertheless a blatant violation of judicial ethics.
“Judges are prohibited under ethics rules from donating to political campaigns and organizations,” tweeted Tom Fitton of Judicial Watch, a conservative watchdog group. “Accordingly, there are legitimate concerns about Judge Merchan’s reported political contributions while a sitting judge to Biden and Democratic causes.”
It’s not just conservative experts saying so, either.
“While the amounts here are minimal, it’s surprising that a sitting judge would make political donations of any size to a partisan candidate or cause,” remarked Elie Honig, a senior CNN legal analyst and former federal prosecutor.
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Stephen Gillers, a professor of legal ethics at New York University, explained that New York, like most jurisdictions in the United States, has adopted language from the American Bar Association Model Code of Judicial Conduct prohibiting judges from soliciting funds for or making contributions to political organizations or candidates.
According to Gillers, the contributions made by Judge Merchan to Joe Biden’s campaign and the “Stop Republicans” sub-project may be prohibited under this code unless there is another explanation that allows for them. However, Gillers also noted that the small sums involved would likely be viewed as trivial and that any ethics complaint made wouldn’t accomplish much and wouldn’t require recusal.
Perhaps not, but it does pose a public relations problem for the left in the ongoing case of Trump and the so-called “hush money” payments to Stormy Daniels, as it serves as evidence of Merchan’s lack of impartiality and would give Trump’s lawyers grounds for an appeal.
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