Rep. Bill Pascrell (D-N.J.) has joined the call for Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas to resign due to the communications of his wife, Virginia “Ginni” Thomas, with lawyer John Eastman supporting the certification challenge. It is still unclear what that email contains, but Ginni Thomas was a vocal supporter for former President Donald Trump in both public and private. Pascrell called Thomas “a corrupt jurist” and said that he could not be considered “neutral” given the fact that his wife is a political activist. Pascrell’s demand comes after Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse called for an investigation into the matter. The demand is entirely without legal or ethical merit absent new evidence that Justice Thomas himself engaged in political advocacy while ruling on related cases.
Rep. IIhan Omar (D., Minn.) was the first member of Congress to call for Thomas to be impeached when it was revealed that the Jan. 6th Commission found 29 messages of his wife, Ginni, to the White House. MSNBC’s Mehdi Hasan echoed the call for impeachment as did former Sen. Barbara Boxer and others. Boxer was particularly ironic since she used the same underlying federal law to challenge the certification of George W. Bush’s election, which was central in former President Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election.
As previously noted, the position of Ginni Thomas on the election was no surprise. She is a well-known Republican activist and Trump supporter. In her communications, Thomas encouraged then-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows to pursue legal and legislative challenges to what she viewed as a stolen election. That was a position supported by millions of voters.
We have come a long way from the days when spouses were viewed as mere extensions of their husbands. Ginni Thomas is an activist and the couple has often discussed how they keep their professional lives apart. Yet, these members are suggesting that Justice Thomas can be investigated or impeached because he essentially failed to keep his wife in line and silent on this national controversy.
Pascrell declared “Clarence and Ginni Thomas have participated in one of the worst breaches of trust ever seen in our court system. Clarence Thomas cannot possibly be seen as a neutral actor but instead as a corrupt jurist who has poisoned the High Court. Clarence Thomas should have dignity and final respect for our democracy and resign.”
The attack on Justice Thomas is grossly unfair and untrue. There was no breach of trust in our court system due to these challenges. The court system functioned exactly as it was intended. So did the other two branches. The high court has handed down at least 10 rulings on the 2020 election In January, Justice Thomas was notably the only dissenting justice. Being a minority of one does not make you corrupt. It is a position that virtually every justice has held at some point on the Court.
Justice Thomas did not write the email to Eastman. It was his wife who has a separate career. Justices are not expected to silence their spouses on political matters or associations. Nor are spouses expected to place their career or views on hold due to their husband or wife sitting on the Court.
Indeed, even justices have been accused of crossing the line on occasion. This includes justices on the left of the Court. I recently criticized Justice Sonia Sotomayor for encouraging law students to oppose new abortion laws. The late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg also drew such criticism. Despite repeated controversies in speaking publicly on political issues, Ginsburg was undeterred. Ginsburg continued such speeches in discussing issues like the ERA to the joy of liberals. Shortly before that, Ginsburg again repeated her view that sexist voters prevented Hillary Clinton from being elected president — a repeat of controversial comments in her 2017 speech. Again, the comments thrilled liberals. As in her 2017 speech, Ginsburg again repeated her view that sexist voters prevented Hillary Clinton from being elected president.
Justice Ginsburg started another firestorm over public comments on how she would move to New Zealand if Donald Trump was elected. Ginsburg apologized for that public controversy, though I discussed in a column how the incident spoke to a much larger problem on the Court.
These were political statements as opposed to direct involvement in advocacy. In this case, it is not Justice Thomas but his wife who was expressing support for certification and election challenges.
It is not clear if Pascrell has access to emails not seen by other members or the public. We know that Thomas texted with then-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows in the aftermath of the presidential election to encourage the White House to fight the certification. She said on Thursday “I look forward to talking to them,” adding, “I can’t wait to clear up misconceptions.”
Pascrell has long sought retaliatory actions against those who hold a different view on the 2020 election. He previously called for the disqualification of 120 House Republicans — including House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) — for simply signing a “Friend of the Court brief” (or amicus brief) in support of an election challenge from Texas.
The attack on Justice Thomas for the advocacy of his wife is a race to the bottom by some Democrats. The Thomas’ have not received support from most law professors or legal experts in the media. Likewise, liberal feminist groups are silent in defense of a woman who maintains a separate career in Washington. Nevertheless, this attack is inflammatory and wrong. It does a disservice to the Court and the country in fueling a national rage addiction that is tearing us apart.
Oh Yes, absolutely, a Hearing, and Trial, followed by a swift Execution of the Husband & Wife Traitors must be had.
Hummm rings familiar:
https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/ethel-rosenberg-a-gruesome-death-by-execution-that-shocked-the-world-1.4601233
BLM:. Black Lives Matter.
BWM is Black Wives Matter.
WWDM is White Wives Don’t Matter.
Oh come now. Even you can’t believe such despicable nonsense
Sorry Democrats, it is Justice Clarence Thomas’ court right now. He ain’t going nowhere.
Pascrell is a cold blooded communist and has been since the 1960s when he taught in Paramus High School in NJ. He’s 85 yrs old and still does not have a decent thought in his head. He’s financially raped NJ and the country for over 5 decades, he should retire.
Democrats today are by and large, God-less, evil mf’ers. They destroy everything they touch.
That is true.
I recall when Reagan was President and how Dems continually attacked him for his age and questioned his mental capacities. Yet, with Biden, Pelosi and other octogenarians like Pascrell and Diane Feinstein, they present them as capable leaders. At least Chuck Grassley can do pushups and runs 2 miles daily at 4 am.
Biden just fell of a bicycle near his home in Delaware at a full stop on level pavement trying to dismount.
🤔
https://nypost.com/2022/06/18/joe-biden-falls-off-bike-riding-near-delaware-beach-home/
A snapshot of the current state of Biden’s Presidency and national affairs: collapsing
Estovir – Where are all pseudo psychologists from MSM today telling Americans President Trump had mental illness?
The President stumbles and falls to the ground. POTUS down on the pavement.
Photo in attached article.
https://thepostmillennial.com/breaking-biden-falls-off-bicycle-in-front-of-crowd-of-onlookers?utm_campaign=64483
“Look at how he steps and look at how I step,” Biden said.
“Watch how I run up ramps and he stumbles down ramps,” he added. “Come on.”
https://dailycaller.com/2021/03/19/joe-biden-mocks-donald-trump-stumble-west-point-ramp-watch-how-i-run-ramps/
I agree with you.
So the Democrats think a woman cannot have her own thoughts and career, but is only an extension of her husband? Who knew?
John Roberts should resign for egregiously and subversively failing to keep his oath to support the literal English words and “manifest tenor” of the Constitution.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
“…courts…must…declare all acts contrary to the manifest tenor of the Constitution void.”
“…men…do…what their powers do not authorize, [and] what they forbid.”
“[A] limited Constitution … can be preserved in practice no other way than through the medium of courts of justice, whose duty it must be to declare all acts contrary to the manifest tenor of the Constitution void. Without this, all the reservations of particular rights or privileges would amount to nothing … To deny this would be to affirm … that men acting by virtue of powers may do not only what their powers do not authorize, but what they forbid.”
– Alexander Hamilton
What a bizarre world we live in today in the United States and unfortunately that is spilling over to the whole world. I suspect that the flood gates of loud rhetoric and propaganda will be opened from now until election time. It is the Zombie Apocalypse!
Meanwhile, like an earthquake causes a tsunami and the people on the beech are laughing it up in the sunshine, seemingly unaware that the wave of disaster is on the horizon. The same are the implications of the “World is Flat” dependency that every country in the world has on each other. Fertilizer is triple in price, fuel is double and there is an acute shortage of DEF (diesel fuel additive) that can put trucking and farm machinery and shipping. They cannot function without it. This will not have an instant impact but will put the food supply chain in Jeopardy. Much of this is a result of poor government policy. Problems are mounting rapidly and are daunting.
What are our AWOL politicians doing? Bickering and arguing. Acting childish! They should be working on solutions to the country’s challenges and the challenges in the world and preparing to weather the terrible storm that is coming our way.
This type of behavior is shameful.
If there is any truth to American politics over the past 200 + years, it is that the public and politics swing from left to right and back again. What is up can be down badly by the next election and then out of power. Particularly this is true when your own behavior while in power is then turned around and applied to you. Some people seem to fail to grasp that point. If you accuse and then punish and never get around to due process and a real trial, can you expect anything different where your side is out of power? That used to moderate some views in both parties because the electorate changes it’s mind. A wise person would remember that.
If Justice Thomas had any reason to dislike Joe Biden or his policies, I doubt his wife could do anything worse than what Mr Biden did when he chaired the Senate Judiciary Committee during Justice Thomas’s confirmation. I would never forgive Biden for that circus but I suspect Justice Thomas is a more forgiving man than I am.
If you want an entertaining take on this I would suggest the old movie “A Man for All Seasons” where Thomas More argues for giving the devil due process. A great performance but also very appropriate to these times.
GEB,
Justice Thomas will forever be remembered for his shameless playing of the race card in his confirmation hearings. His “high-tech lynching” accusation will serve to remind Conservatives that they too are not above dealing from under the deck.
you sound like a racist. do you have white robes?
In a rational world where the constitution is the objective measure of judicial fidelity, Democrats prove once again their relationship to the constitution begins and ends with the oath of office. After that, it’s all about their ideology and workarounds of the constitution.
Olly – Surely you don’t believe that.
Bill, prove me wrong.
Olly,
Turley ain’t never said it.
I wonder what Ginni whispered into Clarence’s ear besides sweet nothings.
That would be none of your business.
Democrats are trying to get Thomas out of office so Biden can appoint a successor. So what that his wife believed the election was corrupt? She’s not alone since at least half the country feels the same. Ginni Thomas was a political activist when Thomas was appointed to the court thirty years ago. Democrats can’t get over Anita Hill’s attempt to derail him by talking about public hairs and Long Dong Silver.
If assassination does not work – then try this nonsense.
Communists Democrats at war. Keep pushing. I think the cold civil war is going hot this summer.
At some point We the People will have had enough communism.
Time for Republicans to Remove All Bi-Partisans RINOS….Democrats want Civil War…lets give it to them!
I call for Letitia James AG of NY…to BE JAILED for the Total Partisan Perversion of NY Justice office!
Watch the party of Fascism…across Government, Business, Education, Media, etc…. The sole intent is to Seize Total Power
Republican need to jail all the Democrats and RINO involved in the Russian Hoax, the total corruption of the DOJ and FBI…and Election CHEATING
Election One Day, Photo ID, In Person!
First Amendment. We all have a right to free speech and free political activity. Getting married doesn’t repudiate the First Amendment. She is not voting on the bench.
Clarence has a separate brain and attitudes.
Distraction — they must know a Dem leaked the Roe v. Wade draft. They have to keep the Jan. 6th issue relevant until the election, because the public has more important things on their mind, and the Dems not only do not have the solution, but they are the cause of the problem. You have to be pretty naive to fall for this transparent hoax.
This is the same old double standard. Their intent is to remove Judge Thomas so Biden can appoint another liberal to the bench. Wake up people!
The efforts to impeach, remove from ballots, cancel speakers, candidates, professors, scientists, speakers, Judges, legislators, Presidents, Americans – simply because they disagree – and now because their wife or family member disagrees – is chilling. It is also a sign that these people do not feel their best argument is enough. They need to win by some other method