On Thursday, a group of House Democrats urged conservative Justice Clarence Thomas of the Supreme Court to step out from a dispute questioning former President Donald Trump’s eligibility to run in Colorado’s Republican primary.
On Wednesday, Trump requested that the Supreme Court reverse a decision made by a Colorado court last month that barred him from running for office due to his actions before the January 6 attack on the Capitol building. Following the filing of its appeal of the Colorado Supreme Court’s ruling, the Republican Party of the state launched the appeal by the former president. Trump may continue to be on the ballot while the U.S. Supreme Court considers his case since the state court postponed its decision to allow for appeals.
In a letter dated Thursday, several House Democrats, led by Rep. Hank Johnson of Georgia, the ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee’s courts subcommittee, requested that Thomas withdraw his involvement in the case.
According to the letter, Thomas ought to step down since his spouse, Virginia “Ginni” Thomas, a conservative activist, openly backed Trump’s efforts to void the results of the 2020 election.
This time, the lawmakers urged Thomas to step down from any involvement in the Anderson v. Griswold case, citing concerns about your impartiality raised by a sizable number of reasonable members of the public who see Thomas’s wife Virginia (‘Ginni’) Thomas’s significant involvement in the events leading up to the January 6 insurrection and the financial benefit it will provide to your household if President Trump is re-elected as disqualifying.
The letter stated, “Not only did your wife attend the January 6 rally, but she was instrumental in planning it and bringing the insurrectionists to the Capitol,” referencing Ginni Thomas’s presence at the “Stop the Steal” event held before the Capitol attack.
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“Your wife was one of nine board members for a conservative political organization that assisted in spearheading the ‘Stop the Steal’ campaign, which resulted in the attack on January 6 that the Colorado Supreme Court declared to be an insurrection,” the congressmen pointed out in their letter. “That you could be objective in determining whether an occasion that your spouse personally planned counts as an “insurrection” that would bar someone from becoming President is unimaginable.”
When asked the Supreme Court for a comment on the letter, a representative did not get back to them right away.
The letter was also signed by Democratic Representatives Dan Goldman of New York, Melissa Stansbury of New Mexico, Jasmine Crockett of Texas, Glenn Ivey of Maryland, Madeleine Dean of Pennsylvania, and Gerald Connolly of Virginia.
In October, Thomas withdrew his involvement from a lawsuit involving former Trump legal counsel John Eastman—a former law clerk of Thomas’s—that was connected to the Capitol attack. Thomas did not give a reason for his recusal, as is customary for court justices.
However, Thomas is also under fire for his refusal to step out from many other lawsuits relating to January 6, one of which concerns whether Trump is immune from federal prosecution as president. Johnson spearheaded a letter last month, referencing his wife’s conservative activity, requesting that Thomas step out from that case. Last month, special counsel Jack Smith’s plea to take over before the regular appeals process began was turned down by the Supreme Court.
