Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas is facing recusal demands after his wife emailed the leader of First Liberty Institute CEO Kelly Shackelford. First Liberty is a religious freedom campaign group that frequently petitions the courts and was involved in several high-profile conservative Supreme Court victories, including a ruling that allowed a high school coach to lead his players in prayer and another that obliged companies to make more accommodations for religious observance.
Shackelford read the email from Thomas’s wife, Ginni, at a recent First Liberty conference. Mrs. Thomas praised the group for opposing White House efforts to enforce a code of ethics in the Court and legislate for term limits. The email states, “You guys have filled the sails of so many judges. Can I just tell you, thank you so, so, so much?”
Thomas sent the email days after President Biden called for changes to the Supreme Court following “scandals involving several Justices.” The President argued that public confidence in the Court has been compromised by “undisclosed gifts to justices” and “conflicts of interest connected with January 6 insurrectionists.”
President Biden did not name Justice Thomas, but he has previously come under fire for accepting lavish gifts from billionaire Republican donor Harlan Crow. Biden did not detail the conflicts of interest, but investigations following January 6 revealed that Ginni Thomas had repeatedly urged Donald Trump’s chief of staff, Mark Meadows, to help overturn the 2020 election results. “Help This Great President stand firm,” she told him.
Another Supreme Court Justice implicated in conflicts of interest is Samuel Alito, who flew the “Appeal to Heaven” flag outside his New Jersey home. The flag had become a symbol of Trump’s “stop the steal” claim and was flown by many demonstrators on January 6. Democrats called for Alito to recuse himself from any cases involving Trump or the infamous Capitol demonstrations, but he refused.
Among those who called for Alito’s recusal was Democratic Senator Dick Durbin, who has also demanded the same of Clarence Thomas. “The reported comments by Ginni Thomas are deeply problematic,” he said, adding that he does not believe her previous Congressional testimony that she and her husband do not discuss his Supreme Court work.
