'Wildly inappropriate': How Ginni Thomas is making SCOTUS’ tarnished rep even worse

05 September 2024

Many critics of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas argued that in light of his wife Ginni Thomas' efforts to help former President Donald Trump overturn the 2020 election results, he needed to recuse himself from Trump v. the United States. But Justice Thomas refused, and he was among the six GOP-appointed justices who, in that case, ruled that U.S. presidents enjoy immunity from criminal prosecution for "official" acts but not for "unofficial" acts.

In a biting opinion column published on September 4, the Washington Post's cites Ruth Marcus as a "persuasive reason" why the High Court "does need an enforcement mechanism."

"Just when you think Virginia 'Ginni' Thomas can't do any more to cast disrepute on the institution where her husband has served as a justice for more than three decades — just when you think that perhaps, just perhaps, the justices and their spouses have been chastened by the torrent of bad publicity — there she goes again," Marcus argues. "The latest bombshell from ProPublica and Documented involves Thomas' gushing, all-caps thank-you e-mail to the conservative First Liberty Institute."

The Post columnist continues, "This is not just any conservative organization — it's one that litigates extensively before the Supreme Court, on some of its most contested cases involving religious liberty and LGBTQ+ rights. And Thomas' e-mail was not just some generic note of appreciation. It was to praise First Liberty for its fierce, and deep-pocketed, fight against — wait for it — proposals to reform the Supreme Court and strengthen ethics enforcement against the justices."

Marcus warns that Ginni Thomas "isn't just lobbying to 'Stop the Steal' — she's trying to Stop the Reform of her husband's own institution."

"So much for separate careers," Marcus laments. "Ginni Thomas' own behavior around the 2020 election, and Clarence Thomas' conduct in accepting, and failing to disclose, thousands of dollars' worth of gifts from wealthy conservatives helped trigger the push for Court reform in the first place. Now, we know, Ginni Thomas is a behind-the-scenes player seeking to frustrate any changes — and a grateful…. beneficiary of First Liberty's efforts on the Thomases' behalf."

Marcus adds, "This would be wildly inappropriate if First Liberty were a run-of-the-mill ideological organization, but the group isn't only that. It's a frequent litigant before the Supreme Court and the lower federal courts."

Ruth Marcus' full Washington Post column is available at this link (subscription required).

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