Ginni Thomas' emails deepen her involvement in 2020 election

WASHINGTON

(AP) — Virginia “Ginni” Thomas, wife of

Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and a conservative political activist, urged Republican lawmakers

in Arizona after the 2020 presidential election to choose their

own slate of electors, arguing that results giving Joe Biden a victory in the state were marred by fraud.

The revelations first published by The Washington Post on

Friday show that Thomas was more involved than previously known in efforts,

based on unsubstantiated claims of fraud, to overturn Biden’s victory and keep thenpresident Donald Trump in office.

In the days after The Associated Press and

other news organizations called the presidential election for Biden, Thomas emailed two lawmakers in Arizona to urge them to choose “a

clean slate of Electors” and “stand strong in the face of political

and media pressure.” The AP obtained the emails under the

state’s open records law.

Thomas also had written to thenwhite House chief of

staff Mark Meadows in the weeks following the election

encouraging him to work to overturn

Biden’s victory and keep Trump in office, according to text messages first reported by the Post and CBS News. Thomas was a

staunch Trump supporter who acknowledged she attended the Jan. 6 “Stop the

Steal” rally on the Ellipse but left before Trump spoke and his supporters later stormed the Capitol.

She has been critical of the ongoing congressional investigation into the Jan. 6 violence, including

signing onto a letter to House Republicans calling for the expulsion of Reps. Liz Cheney of Wyoming and Adam Kinzinger

of Illinois from the GOP conference for

joining the Jan. 6 congressional committee.

Justice Thomas, meanwhile, has taken part in the court’s consideration of lawsuits challenging the election results. The court turned away every challenge without a

hearing, though Thomas was among three conservative

justices who said cases from Pennsylvania

should be heard. In February 2021, Thomas 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. In January, Thomas was the lone

member of the court who supported a bid by Trump to withhold documents from the Jan 6. committee. The documents were held by the National Archives

and Records Administration and included

presidential diaries, visitor logs, speech

drafts and handwritten notes dealing with Jan. 6 from Meadows’ files.

Thomas did not immediately respond to a request for comment,

made to the court Friday. Democratic lawmakers have called on Thomas to step aside from election-related cases, but he has given

no indication he intends to do so.

The latest disclosure comes at a time when Chief Justice John Roberts has ordered

an internal investigation into the leaking of

a draft opinion overturning Roe v. Wade, in one of the court’s

most prominent cases in decades, and opinion polls have shown a loss of public confidence in the institution.

Thomas was referencing the leaked opinion at a conference in Dallas last week when he talked

about the damage to the court. “I wonder

how long we’re going to have these institutions at the rate we’re

undermining them.” Ginni Thomas has

said she and the justice keep their work

separate. “Like so many married couples, we share many of the

same ideals, principles, and aspirations for America. 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,” Thomas told the Washington Free Beacon in an interview published in March. Thomas sent

emails to Arizona House Speaker Rusty Bowers and Rep.

Shawnna Bolick, who this year is running for Arizona secretary of state. That would make her the top elections administrator in Arizona. She wrote them again on Dec. 13, the day before electors

met in state capitols around the country to formally cast their votes for president.

“As state lawmakers, you have the Constitutional power and authority to protect the

integrity of our elections — and we need you to exercise that power now!” the

email said. “Never before in our nation’s

history have our elections been so threatened by fraud and unconstitutional procedures.”