Retired justice Stevens on ethics, Thomas and Colbert

WASHINGTON -- Retired Supreme Court justice John Paul Stevens said Thursday that calls for investigations into justices' ethics or for changes in the court's practices on potential conflicts of interest lack merit.

Yet he acknowledged in an interview with USA TODAY that the activities of Justice Clarence Thomas and his wife, who as a Tea Party activist has opposed the new health-care law pending at the court, have stoked some of the criticism from members of Congress and other quarters. "You can't help but wish that they had a lower profile," he said of Thomas and his wife.

"I also don't think there's a chance in the world that it will affect his vote," Stevens added. "That is one vote that you really can predict."

He said Thomas has consistently taken a narrow view of Congress' power to regulate interstate commerce and would not need to be swayed in the health-care litigation by wife Virginia, a longtime conservative advocate.

Stevens' comments came in an interview related to the publication of his new memoir. He talked at length about several of his former colleagues and addressed some hot-button issues.

The Obama administration, defending a requirement that most people buy health insurance by 2014, has urged the justices to reverse a lower court ruling that said Congress exceeded its power to regulate commerce. Stevens said he is certain the justices will take up the dispute but declined to predict the outcome: "Who knows what will come up in the arguments?"

Earlier this year, a group of House Democrats asked Thomas not to take part in the health-care dispute because of his wife's activities. The conservative Judicial Watch has questioned the participation of Justice Elena Kagan, because she formerly served as a top administration lawyer. Neither justice has found grounds to sit out the case.

Some members of Congress, including Rep. Louise Slaughter, D-N.Y., have called for an investigation into omissions in Thomas' financial disclosure forms of his wife's income — since corrected — and, separately, urged more openness from justices related to their decisions to disqualify from cases because of conflicts of interest.

Stevens, who retired last year after 35 years, said rule changes are not necessary. "I really don't have any concern that people are failing to disqualify themselves when they should," he said.

Stevens' raised Thomas' earlier omission on disclosure forms of Virginia's job with the Heritage Foundation. "They never should have failed to report her income," he said, but added that mistakes can happen.

Stevens, who was appointed by Republican President Gerald Ford yet became a leader of the liberal wing, continues to criticize the 2000 Bush v. Gore ruling and the 2010 Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission decision, which he insists was court "overreaching" that wrongly favored wealthy campaign interests.

Stevens, 91, has been traveling to promote his book, Five Chiefs: A Supreme Court Memoir, and even entertaining overtures from Comedy Central's Colbert Report. "I think I'd do it, if he comes down here," Stevens said of host Stephen Colbert. "I like him. I think he's a clever guy."