Clarence Thomas recuses himself from major John Eastman ruling

Along with Rudy Giuliani, Jenna Ellis and Sidney Powell, former law professor John C. Eastman is among the attorneys who supported former President Donald Trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 election results and is now a co-defendant in Fulton County, Georgia District Attorney Fani Willis' Trump indictment.

Eastman hoped to persuade the U.S. Supreme Court to erase court rulings that described him as a key figure in Trump's attempt to stay in the White House after losing the election. On Monday, October 2, the High Court rejected Eastman's request — although Justice Clarence Thomas recused himself from the decision.

According to Politico reporters Josh Gerstein and Kyle Cheney, "Thomas did not specify a reason for stepping aside from the ruling, but several of the e-mails, contained in a particularly sensitive batch that was inadvertently made public during a legal fight between Eastman and congressional investigators, showed top Trump advisers describing Thomas as their likeliest ally in an effort to get the Supreme Court to legitimize Trump's efforts. Eastman also formerly clerked for Thomas and has had some contacts in recent years with his wife, conservative activist Ginni Thomas."

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Ginni Thomas has claimed that the 2020 election was stolen from Trump — a false claim that has been debunked repeatedly. After the election, Thomas was in close contact with then-White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, who is among the co-defendants in Willis' indictment.

"In his petition to the Supreme Court," Gerstein and Cheney explain, "Eastman argued that the January 6 Select Committee inadvertently made the sensitive e-mails public by leaving a live URL inside one of their court filings that was accessed by Politico. That error undermined Eastman's effort to prevent the Committee from accessing the e-mails in the first place, and Eastman argued the district judge's rulings against him should be scrapped as a result."

The Politico reporters add, "But the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals rejected Eastman's effort, resulting in his appeal to the Supreme Court."

READ MORE: 'Damning' reports shows why John Eastman's 'legal goose might be cooked': conservative

Read Politico's full report at this link.