- Ginni Thomas, wife of Justice Clarence Thomas, has been the focus of scrutiny due to her political activity.
- Members of the U.S. Supreme Court have privately criticized her for this, according to a new book.
- Her text messages to former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows were a particular focus of scrutiny as she appeared to encourage him to work to overturn the election results.
Members of the U.S. Supreme Court privately criticized Ginni Thomas, the wife of Justice Clarence Thomas, because of her political “schemes,” according to a new book.
In her new book, Nine Black Robes: Inside the Supreme Court’s Drive to the Right and Its Historic Consequences, CNN Senior Supreme Court Analyst Joan Biskupic claims that Thomas’ Supreme Court colleagues displayed loyalty to him while criticizing his wife.
Ginni Thomas has been the focus of scrutiny for months because of conversations she had with then-White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows in the weeks following the 2020 election in which she encouraged him to continue efforts to overturn the results.
In a copy of the book seen by Newsweek, Biskupic writes that Ginni Thomas’ “unyielding activism on behalf of Trump, even after he was voted out of office, and her communications with the legal team that tried to overturn the 2020 election, raised ethics questions regarding Justice Thomas’ decisions on related issues.
“Thomas declined to recuse himself from cases related to the presidential election or the January 6 inquiry, or even to address ethics queries from news reporters. Investigative journalists began to examine Ginni’s life as much as Thomas’,” Biskupic went on.
Justice Thomas has faced strong criticism for declining to recuse himself from cases involving the 2020 presidential election and the January 6 Capitol riot, with dozens of Democrats including then House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer urging him to do so in March last year.
Discussing recusal in her book, Biskupic said that Chief Justice John Roberts “touted the integrity of the judiciary but had no real control over Thomas. Each justice decided when to recuse himself or herself from a case, and there was no process for other justices to review the decision.”
“Adding to whatever dilemma Roberts felt in the 2020s, Thomas enjoyed a personal loyalty among his colleagues,” Biskupic added. “Even privately, as theycriticized Ginni Thomas’ various political schemes, including those tied to Trump’s effort to reverse the 2020 election results, most justices did not judge Thomas harshly.”
Ginni Thomas, a lawyer and conservative activist, spoke to the House of Representatives Select Committee investigating the events of January 6, 2021, in September, though she wasn’t named in the 845-page committee report.
Thomas reportedly told the committee in September that she still believed the 2020 presidential election had been stolen from former President Trump, according to committee chair Representative Bennie Thompson.
Her text messages to Meadows were a particular focus of scrutiny as she appeared to encourage the then-White House chief of staff to work to overturn the election results.
In a text on November 10, 2020, that was obtained by The Washington Post, she wrote to Meadows that the “majority knows Biden and the Left is attempting the greatest Heist of our History.”
“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 text read.
Nine Black Robes: Inside the Supreme Court’s Drive to the Right and Its Historic Consequences will be on sale from April 4.
Newsweek has reached out to the Supreme Court via email for comment.
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