Addressing the judge himself, a new letter signed by House Democrats including members of the chamber’s Judiciary Committee demands that the U.S. Supreme Court’s Clarence Thomas recuse himself — meaning withdraw — from the court’s decision-making in an unfolding case over whether Donald Trump is Constitutionally permitted to appear on the ballot for the unfolding presidential race.
A case asking that question recently arrived at Thomas’ court from Colorado, where the state’s Supreme Court ruled that Trump had, in fact, engaged in insurrection via argued incitement of the violence of January 6, 2021, and that Constitutional rules blocking from office individuals who reneged on an oath of office by committing such an act applied to candidates for president. The Colorado Supreme Court established a delay for their ruling actually taking effect, and Trump has subsequently gone to Thomas’ court in search of judicial relief. A similar case has emerged in Maine, where the dispute also seems likely to eventually reach Thomas’ court.
In their letter to the conservative judge, House Democrats including Reps. Hank Johnson (Ga.), Madeleine Dean (Pa.), Dan Goldman (N.Y.), and others drew attention to the past support by Thomas’ wife Ginni for efforts at securing another four years in office for Trump despite his 2020 loss. It’s those efforts that, in broad terms, led to the Capitol riot that it’s alleged Trump incited, so the idea is that the Justice may be inclined to rule favorably for Trump because of his wife’s connections. Ginni was in consistent contact after the 2020 presidential race with Mark Meadows, then the White House’s chief of staff.
“This time, we must urge you to recuse yourself from any involvement in the case of Anderson v. Griswold, because your impartiality is reasonably questioned by substantial numbers of fair-minded members of the public, who believe you wife Virginia (“Ginni”) Thomas’s substantial involvement in the events leading up to the January 6 insurrection, and the financial incentive it presents for your household if President Trump is re-elected, are disqualifying,” the Democrats said. Claims of possible financial incentives connect to the evident success of a Ginni-led consulting business when Trump was president. Read the full letter here.
