The Clarence and Ginni Thomas problem

[struggle4progress]

March 19, 2022, 5:30 AM EDT
By Wayne Batchis, associate professor of political science at the University of Delaware

... if anything has the potential to awaken us from our stupor of exhaustion, it must be the recent news that Ginni Thomas, wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, attended the Jan. 6 populist rally at the Ellipse in Washington, which preceded that day's Capitol riot. Not to diminish voters’ very legitimate concerns about America’s elected officials, but politicians and political movements come and go. Without trust in the courts, American democracy does not stand a chance ...

... It is rare, if not unheard of, for the spouse of a justice to play such a prominent and active role in partisan politics, if only because this might create the potential appearance of impropriety. A judge, of course, is expected to objectively apply the law, without a preconceived commitment to a particular outcome.

The American people .. are not fools. While we may hope, and believe, that judges make their best effort to remain fair and impartial, people likely understand that the modern Supreme Court decides many issues that overlap with our most deeply held beliefs ... Jan. 6, however, is entirely different terrain.

... Thomas not only sat on the board of an organization that promoted the dangerous fiction that the 2020 election was “stolen” from former President Donald Trump through fraud, she also attended the rally attempting to vindicate this paranoid propagandistic fantasy ... All the while, in what might resemble the coordinated efforts of synchronized swimmers, husband and wife seemingly sought to thwart the investigation into the democratically perilous events of Jan. 6. Ginni Thomas signed on to a letter seeking the expulsion of Republican Reps. Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger from the Republican conference for joining the House Jan. 6 investigation committee; Clarence Thomas was the sole dissenter — standing in opposition to the rest of the court, including its three Trump appointees — in a decision allowing for the release of Jan. 6-related documents to said committee ...

https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/supreme-court-s-clarence-thomas-ginni-thomas-problem-ncna1292351

[TreasonousBastard]

1. I would support the impeachment of Thomas just for his wife's activities. Fat chance...

of that happening, though.

[old as dirt]

2. From 2010

snip----------------

In response to questions about the call relayed through a publicist, Ms. Thomas confirmed that she had left a message on Ms. Hill’s voicemail.

“I did place a call to Ms. Hill at her office extending an olive branch to her after all these years, in hopes that we could ultimately get passed what happened so long ago,” Ms. Thomas said in a statement provided to The New York Times.

“That offer still stands,” her statement went on. “I would be very happy to meet and talk with her if she would be willing to do the same. Certainly no offense was ever intended.”

Ms. Thomas did not explain why she had reached out to Ms. Hill at this time.

ABC News quoted from the voicemail.

“Good morning, Anita Hill, it’s Ginny Thomas,” she said, according to ABC News. “I just wanted to reach across the airwaves and the years and ask you to consider something. I would love you to consider an apology sometime and some full explanation of why you did what you did with my husband. So give it some thought and certainly pray about this and come to understand why you did what you did. Okay have a good day.”

While Ms. Thomas described the call as an attempt to reach out, the university appeared to be taking the matter more seriously.

Andrew Gully, senior vice president of the Brandeis University Communications office, confirmed that Ms. Hill had received the message, that she had turned it over to the campus Department of Public Safety Monday. They, in turn, passed it on to the FBI.

“I though it was certainly inappropriate,” Ms. Hill said in an interview. “It came in at 7:30 a.m. on my office phone from somebody I didn’t know, and she is asking for an apology. It was not invited. There was no background for it."

snip----------------

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/20/us/politics/20thomas.html?_r=2

[calimary]

7. Only an apology FROM you and Clarence, Ginni.

Last edited Sun Mar 20, 2022, 09:55 PM - Edit history (1)

NOT an apology TO your ass, Ginni.

It's the other way around, Ginni. You and your miserable husband owe HER an apology (not that we'd believe you meant it with any sincerity, even if you ever DID apologize, Ginni).

[struggle4progress]

3. When the judge's spouse is a wingnut

Published: Mar. 20, 2022, 8:15 a.m.
By Star-Ledger Editorial Board

Ginni Thomas, the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, sits on a board of the Council for National Policy, an ultra-conservative organization that encourages political leaders to contest the 2020 election results ...

... She believes that America is under threat from the “deep state” and the “fascist left” and from “transsexual fascists” ...

... the New Yorker .. detailed how the Center for Security Policy paid Ginni Thomas’s company $236,000 over two years for consulting work -- even as it was filing an amicus brief in favor of Trump’s Muslim travel ban. The court upheld those travel restrictions by a 5-4 vote, with Clarence Thomas in the majority.

Federal judges are guided by a code of conduct. Among them: A judge cannot sit in judgment of something that involves a family member; and the judge must recuse even if there is the appearance of impropriety.

Unfortunately, the rules are different in the highest court, where justices decide for themselves ...

https://www.nj.com/opinion/2022/03/when-the-judges-wife-is-a-wingnut-editorial.html

[struggle4progress]

4. Ethics questions

BY JOHN KRUZEL - 03/19/22 06:02 AM EDT

... “Virginia Thomas should be able to back whatever causes motivate her. The problem is that Justice Thomas continues to participate in cases related to her political activities,” said Steven Lubet, a professor of legal ethics at Northwestern University Law School. “He is the one whose conduct should be questioned” ...

In Clarence Thomas’s three decades on the bench, he has never stepped aside from a case due to a real or perceived conflict of interest resulting from his wife’s political activities ...

Ethical scrutiny of the justice and his spouse has waxed and waned over the years. A prominent example arose from the court’s 5-4 ruling in Bush v. Gore that handed the 2000 presidential election to George W. Bush.

At the time that Clarence Thomas cast a decisive vote for Bush, Ginni Thomas worked at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, where she was recruiting personnel to staff a future Bush administration ...

https://thehill.com/regulation/court-battles/598843-ginni-thomass-activism-sparks-ethics-questions-for-supreme-court

[SoCalDavidS]

5. That Article Lost Me When It Said, "The American People....Are Not Fools." nt

[struggle4progress]

6. Spoke at conference featuring founder of the Oath Keepers

Sarah Al-Arshani Mar 19, 2022, 8:32 PM

Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas' wife co-hosted a banquet as part of a symposium that featured the founder of the Oath Keepers ...

https://www.businessinsider.com/clarence-thomas-wife-oath-keepers-founder-featured-together-at-event-2022-1

[oasis]

17. CT gotta go. nt

[struggle4progress]

8. Impeach Clarence Thomas

... every Democratic member of the House of Representatives should be Googling .. "Samuel Chase" ...

... his long and distinguished résumé didn’t win him many fans. The conservative mayor of Annapolis called him a “busy, restless incendiary, a ringleader of mobs, a foul-mouthed and inflaming son of discord and faction” ...

... In 1804, nine years into Chase’s term on the court, Jefferson and his allies turned to what is still the only way to force a justice out: impeachment ...

... Chase remains the only Supreme Court justice in American history to be impeached. And it was not for some conflict of interest or violation of judicial ethics. It was because his political opponents, including the then-president, thought he was too partisan to rule in a fair or impartial manner ...

https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/why-supreme-court-justice-clarence-thomas-could-be-impeached-n1292076

[Joinfortmill]

23. Thank you very much.

[struggle4progress]

9. Calls grow for resignation

By Nyamekye Daniel | March 16, 2022

... Gabe Roth, executive director of Fix the Court, told The Washington Post the fact that the justice’s wife attended the rally should be cause alone for recusal.

“Because of her participation in that rally, which then led to the breach of the Capitol, which then led to the January 6 committee … that means that you, as a justice, your impartiality still might reasonably be questioned,” Roth said ...

https://atlantablackstar.com/2022/03/16/a-clear-appearance-of-bias-clarence-thomas-wife-admits-she-was-present-at-jan-6-rally-but-insists-her-husband-was-not-involved-calls-grow-for-justice-thomas-resignation/

[BigmanPigman]

10. I hope he drops dead and takes his GQP loving

insurrectionist wifey to Hell with him when he dies (which I hope is within 24 hours).

[Deuxcents]

11. I'll bet your wish is shared by many of us

[Blue Owl]

15. The Spring Clarence Sale... Everything must go!

[calimary]

28. Ooooooooh, I LOVE that!

“The Spring Clarence Sale! Everything Must Go!”

Especially him! And take Ginni with you on your way out the door, dude.

[BonnieJW]

19. He's been hospitalized

so you might get your wish. Flu symptoms

[BigmanPigman]

24. I know, it was the best news I've heard all day.

When he drops dead I will dance in the streets.

I hate that muther with a passion...as much as I hate both Putin and his BFF, the fucking moron. He has destroyed and killed many indirectly through his actions as SCOTUS justice. He is personally responsible for thousands of Americans' pain and suffering. KARMA!!! Rot in Hell asshole!

[Buckeyeblue]

12. We've been talking about this for years on here

Don't forget when Thomas didn't disclose that his wife was paid $800k/year as part of a job with a conservative think-tank. He said it was an oversight, which we all know is bullshit.

[calimary]

29. Yeah. "Oversight" my ass.

[3catwoman3]

13. "The American people...

…are not fools.”

An unfortunately large proportion of them are.

[Blue Owl]

14. Suddenly there's a pubic hair in the GOP's Coke

[Joinfortmill]

22. Ha!

[bringthePaine]

16. if Clardunce won't step down, expand the court

[Hoyt]

18. Might make an exception for Thomas, but typically don't think people

are responsible, or fairly subject to criticism, for actions of their spouses.

Now, Clarence T is subject for his own actions or inactions.

[czarjak]

20. Q-WHITE possibly the strangest ironic situation ever.

[Joinfortmill]

21. Complicit

[Larissa]

26. America deserved better than Clarence Thomas

Clarence Thomas has sat on the Supreme Court for some 31 years in near utter silence -- save for some grumbles, grunts or a few miscellaneous utterances. A paper weight could have served the same purpose.

Clarence replaced Justice Thurgood Marshall who had argued 19 cases before he U.S. Supreme Court as Solicitor General. Justice Marshall argued the landmark Brown vs. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas, before the Supreme Court in 1954, where the Supreme Court justices ruled unanimously that racial segregation of children in public schools was unconstitutional.

If Clarence is still not feeling better, he can just phone it in. At least Clarence can claim, in his defense, that the Great Sphinx of Giza beats him by over 4,000 years when it comes to lumping it on a log.

[AdamGG]

27. "The American people are not fools..."

Hopefully 50% aren't, but 40% certainly are.

[usaf-vet]

30. ///