Post by benson on Feb 10, 2022 18:46:05 GMT
Clarence Thomas, the U.S. Supreme Court’s most senior justice, long celebrated by conservatives and reviled by liberals, is facing renewed scrutiny for potential conflicts of interest as he helms the court’s newly empowered conservative majority and as public opinion of the court slumps to a historic low.
Independent ethics watchdogs have raised new questions about the activism of Clarence Thomas’ wife of 34 years, Virginia “Ginni” Thomas, a longtime political consultant who lobbies for some of the same conservative causes — around abortion, gun rights and religious freedom — that are before the high court.
A New Yorker magazine report last month documented a web of associations between Ginni Thomas and “conservative pressure groups that have either been involved in cases before the Court or have had members engaged in such cases.”
Thomas sits on the advisory board of a group opposing affirmative action that filed a Supreme Court amicus brief in cases the justices recently agreed to take up. She has also been highly critical in public of the congressional committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack, whose business has also come before the court.
Recently released emails obtained by the nonpartisan watchdog group American Oversight, first reported by Politico, also suggest close ties between the Thomases and Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida, who has challenged federal COVID mandates before the high court. In a June 2021 message, not independently verified by ABC News, Ginni Thomas seeks the governor’s participation in a private gathering of activists, noting that Clarence Thomas had been in contact with DeSantis “on various things of late.”
Neither Clarence nor Ginni Thomas responded to ABC News’ request for comment about the reports or claims of potential conflicts.
“Ginni Thomas’ activities are different from any other spouse in the history of the U.S. Supreme Court,” said Gabe Roth, executive director of Fix The Court, a nonpartisan ethics group. “She is more activist in political causes than any other spouse. She has more relationships with organizations that have cases that come before the justices than any spouse before.”
Ginni Thomas’ personal website says she’s “battled for conservative principles” for more than three decades, regularly advising fellow activists through her private firm, Liberty Consulting, and at conservative conferences.
“America is in a vicious battle for its founding principles,” Ginni Thomas told a gathering of the Council for National Policy, a conservative advocacy group, in 2018, according to video obtained by the investigative site Documented. “May we all have guns and concealed carry to handle what’s coming.”
1430wcmy.com/2022/02/08/ginni-and-clarence-thomas-draw-questions-about-supreme-court-ethics/
Independent ethics watchdogs have raised new questions about the activism of Clarence Thomas’ wife of 34 years, Virginia “Ginni” Thomas, a longtime political consultant who lobbies for some of the same conservative causes — around abortion, gun rights and religious freedom — that are before the high court.
A New Yorker magazine report last month documented a web of associations between Ginni Thomas and “conservative pressure groups that have either been involved in cases before the Court or have had members engaged in such cases.”
Thomas sits on the advisory board of a group opposing affirmative action that filed a Supreme Court amicus brief in cases the justices recently agreed to take up. She has also been highly critical in public of the congressional committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack, whose business has also come before the court.
Recently released emails obtained by the nonpartisan watchdog group American Oversight, first reported by Politico, also suggest close ties between the Thomases and Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida, who has challenged federal COVID mandates before the high court. In a June 2021 message, not independently verified by ABC News, Ginni Thomas seeks the governor’s participation in a private gathering of activists, noting that Clarence Thomas had been in contact with DeSantis “on various things of late.”
Neither Clarence nor Ginni Thomas responded to ABC News’ request for comment about the reports or claims of potential conflicts.
“Ginni Thomas’ activities are different from any other spouse in the history of the U.S. Supreme Court,” said Gabe Roth, executive director of Fix The Court, a nonpartisan ethics group. “She is more activist in political causes than any other spouse. She has more relationships with organizations that have cases that come before the justices than any spouse before.”
Ginni Thomas’ personal website says she’s “battled for conservative principles” for more than three decades, regularly advising fellow activists through her private firm, Liberty Consulting, and at conservative conferences.
“America is in a vicious battle for its founding principles,” Ginni Thomas told a gathering of the Council for National Policy, a conservative advocacy group, in 2018, according to video obtained by the investigative site Documented. “May we all have guns and concealed carry to handle what’s coming.”
1430wcmy.com/2022/02/08/ginni-and-clarence-thomas-draw-questions-about-supreme-court-ethics/