A government watchdog is urging Congress to open investigations into Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and his wife, Ginni Thomas, for their connections to the attempted coup on January 6, 2021, which was orchestrated by a mob of Trump loyalists and their large set of collaborators within the Republican Party.
Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics (CREW) sent a letter to the House and Senate Judiciary Committees on Monday urging them to investigate Ginni and Clarence Thomas — the former for her involvement in the attack and attempts to overturn the result of the 2020 election and the latter for his refusal to recuse himself from cases related to the attack.
The group, led by CREW President Noah Bookbinder, says that lawmakers should assess both individuals’ ability to serve in public office considering their connections to the attack, noting that such investigations could potentially result in their removal.
As the letter points out, text and email evidence has established that Ginni Thomas, a conservative activist and member of the Library of Congress Trust Fund board, was embedded within Donald Trump’s movement to overturn the results of the 2020 election. She used her connections within high levels of government to urge officials in multiple states to go against the will of voters and declare victory for Trump, and was in contact with people within the Trump administration about the scheme.
Her husband, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, has refused to recuse himself from matters relating to the attack and the election that may come before the Supreme Court. The justice has participated in several cases involving the attack, including perhaps most controversially when he was the sole justice to vote against allowing Trump White House records to be turned over to the January 6 committee.
“It is critical that those responsible for the attack on the Capitol be held accountable and that the integrity of the Supreme Court not be tainted by conflicts of interest,” Bookbinder wrote. “The Judiciary Committees have responsibility for the oversight of our judiciary and law enforcement agencies, and investigating Ginni Thomas’s conduct and Justice Thomas’s failure to recuse is an essential exercise of that oversight responsibility.”
Ginni Thomas has said that she and her husband don’t discuss politics at home, likely to protect him from facing scrutiny as calls for his impeachment reached a high over the summer.
But even if this was true, the very fact that Ginni Thomas is so ingrained within the movement to overturn the 2020 election erodes public confidence in the Supreme Court, CREW contends. The group calls for Congress to consider passing a bill to bind Supreme Court justices to a code of ethics, as lawmakers like Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Massachusetts) and Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Washington) introduced earlier this year.
“It is hard to conceive of anything more damaging to public trust in the Court than the spouse of someone deeply involved in efforts to overturn an election ruling on criminal and civil matters stemming from those efforts,” the letter reads.
Truthout Is Preparing to Meet Trump’s Agenda With Resistance at Every Turn
Dear Truthout Community,
If you feel rage, despondency, confusion and deep fear today, you are not alone. We’re feeling it too. We are heartsick. Facing down Trump’s fascist agenda, we are desperately worried about the most vulnerable people among us, including our loved ones and everyone in the Truthout community, and our minds are racing a million miles a minute to try to map out all that needs to be done.
We must give ourselves space to grieve and feel our fear, feel our rage, and keep in the forefront of our mind the stark truth that millions of real human lives are on the line. And simultaneously, we’ve got to get to work, take stock of our resources, and prepare to throw ourselves full force into the movement.
Journalism is a linchpin of that movement. Even as we are reeling, we’re summoning up all the energy we can to face down what’s coming, because we know that one of the sharpest weapons against fascism is publishing the truth.
There are many terrifying planks to the Trump agenda, and we plan to devote ourselves to reporting thoroughly on each one and, crucially, covering the movements resisting them. We also recognize that Trump is a dire threat to journalism itself, and that we must take this seriously from the outset.
Last week, the four of us sat down to have some hard but necessary conversations about Truthout under a Trump presidency. How would we defend our publication from an avalanche of far right lawsuits that seek to bankrupt us? How would we keep our reporters safe if they need to cover outbreaks of political violence, or if they are targeted by authorities? How will we urgently produce the practical analysis, tools and movement coverage that you need right now — breaking through our normal routines to meet a terrifying moment in ways that best serve you?
It will be a tough, scary four years to produce social justice-driven journalism. We need to deliver news, strategy, liberatory ideas, tools and movement-sparking solutions with a force that we never have had to before. And at the same time, we desperately need to protect our ability to do so.
We know this is such a painful moment and donations may understandably be the last thing on your mind. But we must ask for your support, which is needed in a new and urgent way.
We promise we will kick into an even higher gear to give you truthful news that cuts against the disinformation and vitriol and hate and violence. We promise to publish analyses that will serve the needs of the movements we all rely on to survive the next four years, and even build for the future. We promise to be responsive, to recognize you as members of our community with a vital stake and voice in this work.
Please dig deep if you can, but a donation of any amount will be a truly meaningful and tangible action in this cataclysmic historical moment.
We’re with you. Let’s do all we can to move forward together.
With love, rage, and solidarity,
Maya, Negin, Saima, and Ziggy