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Justice Thomas' Corruption Shows Urgency for Congress to Pass Supreme Court Code of Ethics
Brett Edkins, Managing Director of Policy and Political Affairs for Stand Up America, issued the following statement after a ProPublica investigation revealed Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas accepted luxury vacations from a billionaire Republican donor for over two decades:
“Justice Thomas accepted and failed to disclose lavish vacations gifted to him by GOP megadonor Harlan Crow in a shameless abuse of power and an affront to the American people. Sadly, these actions are part of a pattern of corruption that betrays Thomas’ deep-seated contempt for the rule of law. No one is above the law–not even Supreme Court justices.
“Our highest court must be held to a higher ethical standard. Congress has a constitutional duty to act quickly by passing a Supreme Court code of ethics and investigating the full extent of Justice Thomas’ wrongdoing.”
To speak with a Stand Up America representative about our work on Supreme Court reform, please don’t hesitate to reach out to press@standupamerica.com.
Stand Up America is a progressive advocacy organization with over two million community members across the country. Focused on grassroots advocacy to strengthen our democracy and oppose Trump's corrupt agenda, Stand Up America has driven over 600,000 phone calls to Congress and mobilized tens of thousands of protestors across the country.
LATEST NEWS
Advocates Demand Reversal of Trump FDA's 'Appalling' Censorship of Vaccine Studies
"Suppressing scientific research exposes the absurdity of Kennedy’s frequently repeated claim that he would bring ‘gold standard’ science and ‘radical transparency’ to the nation’s public health agencies."
May 06, 2026
Public health campaigners are calling on the Trump administration to end its censorship of vaccine research immediately after a spokesman for the Department of Health and Human Services confirmed on Tuesday that the agency recently blocked publication of several studies supporting the safety of commonly used inoculations against Covid-19 and shingles.
HHS spokesman Andrew Nixon said the two Covid-19 vaccine studies in question were "withdrawn because the authors"—which included Food and Drug Administration (FDA) scientists—"drew broad conclusions that were not supported by the underlying data." The abstract of one of the studies, which had been accepted for publication in the medical journal Vaccine, stated that "no new safety concerns were found following 2023–2024 Covid-19 vaccination among US health plan enrollees aged 6 months–64 years."
The blocked shingles studies underscored the safety and effectiveness of Shingrix, according to reporting by The New York Times and Washington Post.
Dr. Robert Steinbrook, the Health Research Group director at Public Citizen, noted in a Tuesday statement that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) also recently blocked a Covid-19 vaccine study from being published in the agency's scientific journal.
“The censorship of FDA and CDC scientific studies because their findings undermine Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s anti-vaccine agenda is outrageous and appalling," said Steinbrook. "Suppressing scientific research exposes the absurdity of Kennedy’s frequently repeated claim that he would bring ‘gold standard’ science and ‘radical transparency’ to the nation’s public health agencies."
“FDA Commissioner Dr. Martin Makary and Dr. Erica Schwartz, the nominee for CDC Director, must publicly commit to reversing these decisions and allowing the vaccine studies to be promptly published," Steinbrook added. "Bona fide public health agencies do not censor bona fide vaccine research.”
Kayla Hancock, director of the advocacy group Protect Our Care’s Public Health Project, said the censorship of vaccine studies further demonstrates that "this administration does not care how many Americans suffer from preventable diseases, so long as the anti-science elements of their base keep supporting them."
"Contrary to claims of its demise, the Trump-RFK Jr. HHS anti-vax agenda is here to stay and they will keep seizing any opportunity to put politics over public health," said Hancock.
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'Spain Does Not Look the Other Way': Sánchez Calls on EU to Block Israel-US Sanctions on ICC
"Sanctioning those who defend international justice puts the entire human rights system at risk," said the Spanish prime minister.
May 06, 2026
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez asked the European Commission on Wednesday to block compliance with US sanctions against the International Criminal Court over its arrest warrants against Israeli leaders accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
Last February, US President Donald Trump signed an executive order sanctioning the ICC, citing its warrants in November 2024 for the arrest of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defense minister, Yoav Gallant.
The ICC said at the time that the sanctions were meant to "harm its independent and impartial judicial work," potentially restricting officials’ access to US-linked property, services, travel, banking, and financial transactions, as they investigate widespread human rights violations and accusations of genocide during the more than two-year military campaign, which has resulted in the deaths of at least 72,000 Palestinians according to official estimates.
In a letter to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Wednesday, Sánchez called for the immediate activation of the European Union's Blocking Statute, which is designed to protect European citizens from the effects of foreign sanctions.
"Spain does not look the other way," Sánchez said in a post to social media. "Sanctioning those who defend international justice puts the entire human rights system at risk."
"The EU cannot remain idle in the face of this persecution," he continued. "That is why, today, we ask the commission to activate the Blocking Statute, to protect the independence of the International Criminal Court and the United Nations, and their actions to end the genocide in Gaza."
In addition to the ICC, Sánchez said that the commission should also shield Francesca Albanese, the United Nations special rapporteur for the Palestinian territories, whom the Trump administration also sanctioned in July, claiming that her stark criticisms of Israel's actions in Gaza helped to "prompt" the ICC investigation.
Following the announcement, Albanese issued a message of thanks to Sánchez over social media.
"Gracias, Presidente Sánchez," she wrote. "For your words, for your principled stance, and for trying to steer Europe away from the abyss."
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Iran Wants to Know If Anyone Told Kids in Trump's Oval Office About Minab Massacre
"Has anyone told these children that that bloodthirsty man killed more than 200 students just a few days ago?"
May 06, 2026
The day after US President Donald Trump told young children in the Oval Office about the blowing up of strategic targets in Iran and described the graphic killing of Iranian protesters who were shot in the head by alleged snipers, a social media account with Iran's foreign service on Wednesday inquired whether anyone had thought to mention the scores of students who were murdered earlier this year when US forces bombed a school in the city of Minab.
"Has anyone told these children that that bloodthirsty man killed more than 200 students just a few days ago?" asked the Embassy of the Islamic Republic of Iran in South Africa.
While the number of students killed in the Minab massacre—which took place on the very first day of US bombing—was put at "more than 100" by Amnesty International in a March report, the Iranian government has said 60 or more college students have been killed by US and Israeli forces during airstrikes on universities and research facilities since the attack ordered by Trump began on February 28.
Trump, during his remarks to the children and other gathered in the White House to mark a new physical fitness initiative by the White House, called the Iranians "sick people" who he absurdly claimed would have destroyed the entire Middle East, including Israel, with a nuclear weapon—which they don't have—"within two weeks" if the US had not attacked when they did.
Trump, with no sense of irony, told the children, "we're not going to let lunatics have a nuclear weapon." The optics of Trump's comments were not only seized by the Iranians to make a point about how the US military has conducted itself under his command.
"Trump unironically tells kids in America that Iran is full of 'sick people' who would've nuked them," said journalist Fiorella Isabella, "as the entire world with a half a brain reminds him that the very first thing he and his Zionist ghouls did was order a double tap-strike on 180 school children in Minab."
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