Time for Clarence Thomas to leave. His wife sent text messages to a Trump official encouraging them to work on the 2020 election. Democrats don’t want Thomas to be involved in any election related cases. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez called for him to resign or be impeached. Others thought him leaving would be a good idea too. You can impeach a Supreme Court Justice. It’s only happened once, Samuel Chase in 1804.
Time for him to resign
Ocasio-Cortez took to Twitter to broadcast her thoughts. She started, “Clarence Thomas should resign.”
She pointed to his “failure to disclose income from right-wing organizations, recuse himself from matters involving his wife, and his vote to block the Jan 6th commission from key information.” He was the only one that voted against having the National Archives turn over Trump administration paperwork to the January 6 committee.
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.
This is a tipping point. Inaction is a decision to erode and further delegitimize SCOTUS.
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) March 29, 2022
Time to attack
A conservative judge. Several Democrats joined in to support Ocasio-Cortez. Ilhan Omar of MN thought he should be impeached. Others, such as Rep. Hank Johnson of GA, Veronica Escobar of TX and Nydia Velasquez of NY just wanted him to step down.
Sen. Richard Blumenthal of CT spoke with CNN. He thought Thomas should be investigated. Other Democrats, including Steve Cohen of TN thought he should be censured during election cases. Pelosi thought he should just recuse himself.
Time to step down
More than 20 Democrats sent a letter to the Supreme Court wondering why Thomas wasn’t recusing himself. In addition, a “written explanation for his failure to recuse himself” in the past was called for.
Ocasio-Cortez continued to tweet that Clarence Thomas is dangerous, “Congress must understand that a failure to hold Clarence Thomas accountable sends a loud, dangerous signal to the full Court … that his acts are fair game.” His wife’s text messages were a “tipping point. Inaction is a decision to erode and further delegitimize SCOTUS.”
But it was also time to hold the phone
Back off, fellow Democrats, there’s no need for this! Some, but not all, in the party fear any dissension. House Judiciary Chair Rep. Jerrold Nadler of NY thought we should wait til the committee is done, “It’s much too early to talk about censure or impeachment. I think we have to wait and see what the January 6 committee finds.”
A couple Republicans added their voice. Sen. Chuck Grassley of IA told CNN that he doesn’t “have any question about Clarence Thomas’ integrity”. Josh Hawley of MO thought the Democrats were projecting again, calling them “kind of misogynistic.” Sen. Mitch McConnell sees nothing wrong with Judge Thomas, “I have total confidence in his brilliance and impartiality in every aspect of the work of the Court.”
Time to question connections
Including your spouse. The January 6 committee found 29 text messages sent from Ginni Thomas to then White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows to encourage him to work on the election.
Trump never conceded. She asked Meadows, “Do not concede. It takes time for the army who is gathering for his back.” She also texted November 19 to have Meadows “release the Kraken and save us from the left taking America down.”
Fellow conservative involvement
Clarence has come under fire for his wife’s activism long before the texts happened. But they’re not involved in each other’s work. Ginni said, “Clarence doesn’t discuss his work with me, and I don’t involve him in my work.”
The committee wants Ginni Thomas to testify about how much she’s connected to the election. It’s unknown if there are more texts between her and Meadows. Democrats further called for Chief Justice John Roberts to put together a “binding Code of Ethics” by April 28. Supreme Court justices aren’t currently bound by ethics placed on lower court judges and it would go beyond just Justice Thomas.
