Stephen Breyer faces backlash over defense of Clarence Thomas

Retired Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer is facing criticism after he defended his former colleague, Justice Clarence Thomas, who is currently under scrutiny for going on luxury vacations with his friend.

"As far as I’m concerned, I sat next to him on the bench for 28 years. I like him. He’s a friend of mine. I’ve never seen him do anything underhanded or say anything underhanded," Breyer, who generally made liberal decisions on the court, said Thursday at a federal circuit court conference in Boston, according to Bloomberg Law. "My personal point of view is he’s a man of integrity."

Thomas, a conservative justice, made headlines earlier this month after a ProPublica investigation revealed that he and his wife have taken multiple luxury vacations over more than two decades with his friend, Republican mega-donor Harlan Crow, without reporting the trips on his financial disclosures. Thomas said he was not required to disclose the trips.

Breyer received pushback online for his defense of Thomas, who has faced multiple calls for impeachment over ethics questions.

"The problem with Supreme Court justices, both current and former, is that their prestige and power all flows from the false perception that the Supreme Court is a noble institution that isn’t run by partisan hacks," senior Vox correspondent Ian Millhiser tweeted.

"Well all this does is severely undermine any credibility Breyer had, because it's an outrageously stupid & demonstrably shamefully dishonest claim," film podcaster Mark Huges tweeted about Breyer's claims.

"Unless Stephen Breyer personally oversaw the completion of Clarence Thomas's financial disclosure forms, none of this matters," another person said.