(Image Source: Oyez)

BY EVAN BUSH

Usually, he’s the one handing down judgment. Twenty House Democrats are asking for an investigation of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, after he amended a financial disclosure form which revealed his wife’s political connections to a Conservative think-tank.

CNN has more:

“With it now looking very likely the Supreme Court could rule over the health care law during the election year, a political battle is brewing over whether some justices should sit the case out. Some House Democrats want Clarence Thomas to be investigated over his wife’s ties to a lobbying group that opposes the health care law.”

The Omaha World-Herald has more on what Thomas did that Democrats say puts him in ethical hot water.

“Thomas wrote to the Committee on Financial Disclosure early this year, asking to amend [reports] he had previously filed to reflect his wife’s various jobs over the years. That included compensation she received from the Heritage Foundation, a conservative Washington-based think tank that is a prominent opponent of the new federal health care law.”

As MSNBC reporter Luke Russert explains, this might be a political move by Democrats looking to protect President Obama’s health care law.

“Now, what’s the politics here, Tamron: I spoke with a Republican who said look, what they’re trying to do on the Democratic side is call for the Justice Department to investigate this, see an investigation. Because they want Clarence Thomas to recuse himself on any possible case having to with the nation’s health care law.”

A blogger for The Root says -- that strategy might just work.

“The convenient timing of the Democratic push for an ethics investigation into Thomas -- just as the Affordable Care Act is brought before him -- may prompt grumbling from cynics who see it as a mere political play. But whatever the motive may be, repeatedly failing to disclose his wife’s income for his entire tenure is a pretty drastic omission that he’ll have a hard time defending.”

But Conservative blog American Thinker writes the financial form issue was a simple mistake, and doesn’t suggest Thomas’ wife could affect his opinion from the bench.

“Virginia Thomas is an accomplished woman, an activist, and the head of a prominent conservative group, Liberty Central. Her political activism has nothing to do with her husband’s work on the bench.”

Thomas isn’t the only justice facing conflict-of-interest allegations over the health care law. Capitol blog, The Hill reports.

“Conservative groups have similarly been raising concerns that [Elena Kagan] might have been involved in crafting the administration’s legal defense for a law she’s now expected to rule on -- something she emphatically denied during her Senate confirmation.”

Thomas is notably silent on the bench. He hasn’t spoken in Supreme Court proceedings in more than five years, but he did address the allegations through a spokesman, telling the New York Daily News his errors on the financial forms were inadvertent.

Transcript by Newsy.