Jashlene Cawagas
Clarence Thomas, one of nine sitting U.S. Supreme Court Justices are currently facing a possible impeachment. The leak of his wife Virginia “Ginni” Thomas’ text messages to the former White House Chief of Staff, Mark Meadows, regarding the Jan. 6th, 2021 government insurrection.
“Late Thursday, The Washington Post and CBS reported that Thomas, the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, exchanged more than two dozen text messages with Meadows as she pressed to overturn President Donald Trump’s electoral defeat in 2020,” an Insider article said.
Due to Ginni Thomas’ political activism, her husband is now facing calls for his retirement or resignation. The situation escalated when New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez threatened to impeach him if he refused to resign.
“Clarence Thomas should resign. If not, his failure to disclose income from right-wing organizations, recuse himself from matters involving his wife, and his vote to block the Jan 6th commission from key information must be investigated and could serve as grounds for impeachment,” Cortez said on Twitter.
Democratic lawmakers and experts criticized Thomas for his wife’s biased and uninvited action, regarding conflict of interests in politics. Thomas continues to face a conundrum as politicians intensify the ethical scrutiny of Thomas due to his wife’s exposed aggressive efforts to help overturn former President Donald Trump’s electoral defeat.
The Hill stated that the contentious relations sparked questions about Thomas’ refusal to resign from related Supreme Court cases, including at least ten rulings concerning the 2020 presidential election, without his indication of recuse.
There are more Democrats joining Ocasio-Cortez in her call for Thomas’s impeachment. Due to his decision about the ruling that cleared the way for House investigators probing the Jan. 6th insurrection to obtain Trump-era White House records. This ruling has drawn intense criticism from other Democrats.
Supreme Court Justices, unlike judges on lower federal courts, are not bound by a code of conduct and are permitted to decide for themselves whether recusal is appropriate. This event called for other lawmakers and experts for Thomas’ impeachment in Court.
Most of the Democratic party strongly supports the impeachment of Thomas, while many Republicans oppose this idea. These opposers dismissed Thomas’s conflict of interest and bolstered Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s statement that “it’s a coordinated effort to nullify the presence of Justice Clarence Thomas on the court”.
The matter relating to Thomas’s wife gave rise to many questions among Democrats and experts concerning his decisions in Court. It is still unclear what he will face; an impeachment or a resignation may be in Thomas’s near future.
