Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison (D) compared Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas to a house slave character in the film “Django Unchained” in an interview last week.
Speaking with the Michigan Chronicle, Ellison, who previously served in Congress, argued that there should be term limits for Supreme Court justices and urged Congress to impose ethical rules on the court.
He noted the recent controversies surrounding Thomas and his conservative colleagues, who have accepted lavish gifts and travel from wealthy GOP donors.
“And, you know, maybe we can pass an ethical standard for them so that they can’t be so obviously bought off by outside interests,” Ellison said in the interview.
Asked about Thomas, Ellison told Michigan Chronicle journalist Andre Ash the justice should be removed from his position entirely.
“Anyone who has watched the movie Django, just watch Stephen and you see Clarence Thomas.” Ellison told Ash, comparing Thomas to the house slave portrayed by actor Samuel L. Jackson in the 2012 Quentin Tarantino film.
“Clarence Thomas has decided that his best personal interest is siding with the powerful and the special interests regardless of who they’re going hurt,” Ellison added.
“So he’s abdicating his responsibility. He has abdicated it a long time ago. When he got in office, he was this way, he’s this way now, maybe he’s worse now. So Clarence Thomas needs to be impeached,” Ellison said in the interview, which was highlighted by Mediaite Monday.
Ellison’s remarks come as Thomas faces intense scrutiny over reports that he accepted undisclosed luxury vacations from Republican megadonor Harlan Crow. Crow also reportedly paid tuition for the private school Thomas’s great-nephew attended and purchased several properties owned by Thomas and his family.
“Clarence Thomas is illegitimate and has no basis in the job that he’s in. And it’s a lesson to us as African Americans,” Ellison said.
“What is the lesson? Well, we all thought ‘Well, he’s a Black man raised in the deep south. He knows what racism, segregation is. He knows what affirmative action is,’” he added. “’He’s gonna come around one day.’ Understand that it’s not a matter of pigment. It’s not what’s on your skin, it’s what’s in your mind.”
Ellison’s comment drew blowback from some on the right, who said he crossed a line with the comparison.
“The left’s vile, vicious attempts to smear Justice Thomas are utterly transparent,” Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) said in a tweet. “They just can’t stand that he doesn’t share their radical orthodoxy.”