Activism of wife ignites calls for new ethics rules

WASHINGTON — Through a decades-long career in conservative politics, Virginia Thomas has repeatedly maintained that her political activities posed no conflict of interest with the work of her husband, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.

“Like so many married couples, we share many of the same ideals, principles, and aspirations for America,” Thomas said this month in an interview with the right-wing Washington Free Beacon. “But we have our own separate careers, and our own ideas and opinions too. Clarence doesn’t discuss his work with me, and I don’t involve him in my work.”

Justice Thomas faces renewed accusations of conflict of interest after revelations that his wife repeatedly urged aides to former President Donald Trump to resist the results of the November 2020 presidential election. A series of text messages between Virginia Thomas — known as Ginni — and former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows show her lobbying Meadows to fight the election results and offering strategic advice on how best to overturn President Biden’s victory.

The text exchanges, first reported by the Washington Post and CBS, highlight Thomas’ deep access to the Trump inner circle and her personal involvement in a divisive and destructive fight that many Trump supporters hoped would eventually end up in front of her husband on the Supreme Court.

Trump’s attempts to change the results did eventually make it before the court, which refused to hear a collection of state-level challenges in February 2021. Justice Thomas dissented and called the cases an “ideal opportunity” to address an important question whether state lawmakers or state courts get the last word about the manner in which federal elections are carried out.

Now Ginni Thomas’ personal involvement in that fight has fueled calls for Justice Thomas to recuse himself from all cases relating to the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the U.S. Capitol by a mob of Trump supporters seeking to stop the Senate from certifying the election results.

“Why didn’t Justice Thomas recuse himself in the Trump records case in light of Ginni Thomas’ apparent active involvement?” Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn, said on Twitter. “The nation deserves an explanation & the Supreme Court needs a Code of Ethics.”

The Supreme Court leaves recusal decisions to the discretion of the justice in question.

Pablo Martinez Monsivais / Associated Press 2016 Justice Clarence Thomas and his wife, Virginia Thomas, leave the Washington funeral service for Justice Antonin Scalia in 2016. Virginia Thomas is a longtime conservative activist.