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.
