This far-right couple could be 'the next' Clarence and Ginni Thomas: report

25 March 2024

This Tuesday, March 26, the U.S. Supreme Court is scheduled to hear oral arguments in FDA v. Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine — a case in which far-right Christian fundamentalists and anti-abortion activists are challenging access to the abortion drug mifepristone.

Those fundamentalists are claiming that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) never should have approved mifepristone — a claim that far-right Judge James C. Ho, a Donald Trump appointee to the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals, agreed with when he ruled to restrict the drug. Judge Ho has strong ties to the anti-abortion movement: He is married to Allyson Ho, an anti-abortion activist.

In an article published by The Guardian on March 25, journalist Melissa Segura lays out some similarities between James and Allyson Ho and another far-right couple: Justice Clarence Thomas and his wife, MAGA activist Ginni Thomas.

"Few people outside of legal circles have heard of the Hos," Segura explains, "yet the couple is tied to the case before the U.S. Supreme Court that will determine women's access to mifepristone, a drug commonly used in medication abortions…. Ho served on the three-judge panel last summer that ruled to restrict access to mifepristone."

Segura adds, "The legal group behind the mifepristone case, Alliance Defending Freedom, made at least six payments from 2018 through 2022 to his wife, Allyson, a powerhouse federal appellate lawyer who has argued in front of the Supreme Court and has deep connections to the conservative legal movement that has led the attack on the right to abortion in the U.S."

Judge Ho, Segura notes, has drawn criticism for refusing to recuse himself from the mifepristone case despite his wife's involvement. And similarly, Segura reports, Justice Thomas "rankled the legal world when he refused to recuse himself from a case involving questions about the January 6 insurrection and the 'Stop The Steal' campaign to which his wife, Ginni Thomas, was closely tied."

Alex Aronson, executive director of the group Court Accountability and a former chief counsel to Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-Rhode Island), told The Guardian, "When Americans see a case like this — so clearly concocted and motivated by special interests, and with evident connections between those interests and the judges on the case — it does tremendous damage to the reputation of the courts, and to the public trust in their ability to give all litigants an even shake."

Read The Guardian's full report at this link.

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