There is an old lawyer’s joke: “If the facts are against you, argue the law. If the law is against you, argue the facts. If the law and the facts are against you, pound the table and yell like hell.”
It looks like ProPublica, a self-styled “independent, nonprofit newsroom that produces investigative journalism with moral force,” has now descended to the anonymous humor of the bar. Its writers have waged a yearlong campaign against Justice Clarence Thomas, to the point of accusing him of accepting financial gifts from conservative donors who hoped to influence him. These charges have failed. Not only has the Wall Street Journal editorial page debunked their facts, Justice Thomas has complied with the judicial-ethics rules, and, most important, has always followed the central principle of judicial honor: to have no personal interest in any case that appears before the Court.
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