- More than 2 dozen Democrats are calling on Justice Thomas to recuse himself from cases related to Jan. 6.
- This comes after public revelations about his wife's efforts to persuade the Trump White House to overturn the election.
- At least five Democrats have called on Thomas to resign or be impeached.
A growing number of Democratic lawmakers are demanding that Justice Clarence Thomas resign from the Supreme Court — or at the very least recuse himself from cases related to the January 6 insurrection — following news that his wife pushed the Trump White House to challenge the 2020 presidential election results. A few progressives have raised the prospect of impeachment.
"Clarence Thomas should resign," Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez tweeted on Tuesday. The New York Democrat said that if Thomas refuses to step down, lawmakers should investigate the conservative justice's potential conflicts of interest, which she said "could serve as grounds for impeachment." A Supreme Court justice can only be removed through a congressional impeachment.
"Congress must understand that a failure to hold Clarence Thomas accountable sends a loud, dangerous signal to the full Court – Kavanaugh, Barrett, & the rest – that his acts are fair game," she added. "This is a tipping point. Inaction is a decision to erode and further delegitimize SCOTUS."
Reps. Nydia Velázquez of New York, Veronica Escobar of Texas, and Hank Johnson of Georgia have also recently called on Thomas to resign. But more than two dozen Democratic lawmakers have not gone as far, only calling on Thomas to recuse himself from future cases concerning the January 6 insurrection.
Rep. Ilhan Omar, a Democrat of Minnesota, went farther and said last week that Thomas should be impeached. Federal judicial impeachments are rare and a Supreme Court justice hasn't been impeached since 1804. A majority of House lawmakers would need to vote for impeachment and a two-thirds majority of Senate lawmakers would need to vote to convict.
Ginni Thomas' text messages prompt an outcry
The momentum comes after the Washington Post and CBS News reported Thursday that Thomas' wife, Virginia "Ginni" Thomas, exchanged more than two dozen text messages with former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, in late 2020 and early 2021 urging him to pursue efforts to overturn the presidential election. The 29 texts sent from November 2020 to January 2021 are part of the thousands of messages that Meadows handed over to the House select committee investigating the January 6 Capitol riot.
In the wake of the text revelations, Thomas has come under scrutiny for a potential conflict of interest in his Supreme Court work. Specifically, Democrats have criticized him for not recusing himself from a Supreme Court ruling handed down two months ago, when the majority of justices rejected former President Donald Trump's request to withhold White House records from the January 6 committee. Thomas was the only justice to dissent. The longest-serving member on the bench, Thomas did not provide an explanation for his dissent — a standard omission for such emergency motions that come before the court.
Democrats are largely calling on Thomas to provide an explanation for his dissent in that case and for his recusal in future cases related to the January 6 Capitol riot and the congressional committee's investigation, given his wife's texts. But Democratic Rep. Steve Cohen of Tennessee said Thomas "should be censured for having voted in cases related to the election," Politico reported.
In a letter sent to Thomas and Chief Justice John Roberts on Monday, 24 Democratic lawmakers raised concerns about "the urgent need for significant ethics reform at the Supreme Court."
"In particular, given the serious conflict-of-interest issues presented by Ms. Thomas's leadership in the efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election, we call upon Justice Thomas to immediately issue a written explanation for his failure to recuse himself in prior Supreme Court cases involving efforts to overturn the 2020 election or the January 6th attack on the Capitol and promptly recuse himself from any future Supreme Court cases involving efforts to overturn the 2020 election or the January 6th attack on the Capitol," the letter said.
The letter's signatories include Sens. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, Cory Booker of New Jersey, Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, and Ron Wyden of Oregon, along with Progressive Caucus Chair Rep. Pramila Jayapal and Rep. Jerry Nadler of New York.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer on Tuesday said Thomas should recuse himself from January 6-related cases and said the Court should adopt "some kind of code of ethics" for Justices. He added there are "serious questions about how close Justice Thomas and his wife were to the planning and execution of the insurrection." Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin also told reporters on Capitol Hill this week that Thomas "should recuse himself from those cases."
Some prominent Democrats, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, have not taken as strong of a stance, instead saying it's up to Thomas himself to decide whether to recuse himself from cases. "It's up to an individual justice to decide to recuse himself if his wife is participating in a coup," Pelosi said during a caucus meeting on Tuesday, according to Punchbowl News' Heather Caygle.
Republicans, for their part, have taken a similar position. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy said Friday that Thomas can make his own decisions "like he's made them every other time."
"It's his decision based upon law," McCarthy said.
The January 6 panel is expected to request an interview with Ginni Thomas following the public revelation of the text messages.
In one message sent on November 6, 2020, Ginni told Meadows that Trump should not concede the election.
"Do not concede. It takes time for the army who is gathering for his back," she wrote to Meadows, per The Post.
In another message sent on November 10, 2020, days after the major news networks declared then-Democratic nominee Joe Biden the winner, Ginni wrote to Meadows: "Help This Great President stand firm, Mark!!!"
"You are the leader, with him, who is standing for America's constitutional governance at the precipice. The majority knows Biden and the Left is attempting the greatest Heist of our History," the text continued, per The Post.