NYU law professor and former Sonia Sotomayor clerk Melissa Murray joined MSNBC’s Stephanie Ruhle on Thursday’s The 11th Hour claimed that Clarence Thomas is a hypocrite for wanting to overturn affirmative action while he takes vacations with Harlan Crow. At the same time, both Ruhle and Murray praised Elena Kagan for refusing a bagel platter.
Murray lamented that “Justice Thomas who likely will be part of a six justice majority to overturn affirmative action in a few weeks on the grounds that it's government largesse and undeserved where he has been accepting largesse from a billionaire super donor who has been ferreting him all over the world, to the Galapagos on super yachts and on private jets, so I mean the contrast could not be more striking and it really is disheartening.”
What is really disheartening is that not only did Murray decline to offer any actual legal arguments for affirmative action, but she and Ruhle alleged that Kagan stands in stark contrast to Thomas. Earlier in the segment, after suggesting that Thomas was being disingenuous for Thomas to portray himself as a simple man while taking extravagant vacations, Ruhle shifted to Kagan, “Meanwhile, Justice Kagan refused a free bagel platter from a group of her high school classmates in 2021, because she was worried about violating the Supreme Court's ethics rules. According to a new report from Forward.”
Ruhle then proceeded to introduce guests Murray and Luke Broadwater, asking the former “what in the world is going on?”
Murray also began by praising Kagan, “I mean, I don't think this is just any ordinary big old platter, Stephanie, this is from Russ & Daughters so it’s actually worth even more than we think, but it does go to show that at least some of the justices are taking these disclosure requirements, and these ethical obligations seriously, she refused a bagel platter from high school friends because worried about the appearance of impropriety.”
While Ruhle and Murray heap praise on Kagan for declining some bagels, they conveniently ignore the controversy behind her decision not recuse herself from the Obamacare ruling despite being Obama’s solicitor general.
This segment was sponsored by Progressive.
Here is a transcript for the May 11 show:
MSNBC The 11th Hour with Stephanie Ruhle
5/11/2023
11:49 PM ET
STEPHANIE RUHLE: Meanwhile, Justice Kagan refused a free bagel platter from a group of her high school classmates in 2021, because she was worried about violating the Supreme Court's ethics rules. According to a new report from Forward. Back with us tonight to discuss, Luke Broadwater, Pulitzer prize-winning congressional reporter for the New York Times. And Professor Melissa Murray of NYU Law School, she was a clerk for Sonia Sotomayor on the federal bench before her nomination to the High Court. Melissa, what in the world is going on?
MELISSA MURRAY: I mean, I don't think this is just any ordinary big old platter, Stephanie, this is from Russ & Daughters so it’s actually worth even more than we think, but it does go to show that at least some of the justices are taking these disclosure requirements, and these ethical obligations seriously, she refused a bagel platter from high school friends because worried about the appearance of impropriety.
And yet we have Justice Thomas who likely will be part of a six justice majority to overturn affirmative action in a few weeks on the grounds that it's government largesse and undeserved where he has been accepting largesse from a billionaire super donor who has been ferreting him all over the world, to the Galapagos on super yachts and on private jets, so I mean the contrast could not be more striking and it really is disheartening.
