Durbin Calls for Justice Thomas to Recuse After Wife’s Comments
WASHINGTON — The chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee on Monday called for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas to recuse himself from cases involving a religious legal group that won praise recently from his wife.
Virginia “Ginni” Thomas sent an email to the First Liberty Institute complimenting it for its opposition to Supreme Court reforms suggested by President Joe Biden and Democrats in Congress.
“You guys have filled the sails of many judges,” the email to a First Liberty Institute lawyer said. “Can I just tell you, thank you so, so, so much.”
The lawyer read the email during a conference call with the institute’s top donors.
Justice Thomas is at the center of a reform movement following media reports that he accepted lavish gifts from a friend and Republican campaign donors who had business before the Supreme Court.
The federal court reform advocacy group Fix the Court estimated this year that over the past 20 years Thomas accepted gifts worth $4.2 million. They included luxury vacations, money for a more than quarter-million-dollar recreational vehicle and business contracts for his wife’s consulting firm.
In the same period, eight other Supreme Court justices, plus eight retired or deceased justices, received gifts roughly totaling $600,000, Fix the Court said.
Reports of the gifts led to legislative proposals for a Supreme Court code of ethics that could be enforced by outside groups. The court’s ethics and disclosure rules are now enforced only internally, among the nine justices.
Thomas and other justices have said a code of ethics enforced by Congress or other federal judges could be a deterrent for the Supreme Court to rule on the most controversial issues because of the risk of political reprisal against them.
Some of the calls for a new code of ethics have come from Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee.
“The reported comments by Ginni Thomas are deeply problematic,” Durbin said in a statement. “She’s testified before Congress that she and Justice Thomas do not discuss each other’s work. That defense now rings hollow. Whether she’s inflating her knowledge of judges’ views on ethics reform or telling the truth, her apparent comments on behalf of judicial officers create a clear appearance of impropriety for Justice Thomas.”
Durbin is a supporter of the Supreme Court Ethics, Recusal, and Transparency Act. It is a bill that would require Supreme Court justices to adopt a binding code of conduct, create a mechanism to investigate alleged violations of the code and set new disclosure and transparency requirements.
If the justices recuse themselves from cases, they would be required to publicly explain their reasons. There is no such requirement now.
The Senate Judiciary Committee approved the bill in July 2023. The pending legislation has not reached a final vote in Congress.
Biden has proposed similar reform legislation.
His plan would establish 18-year term limits for Supreme Court justices along with an enforceable ethics code.
Republicans generally oppose the proposed reforms, saying they would diminish the ability of the Supreme Court to balance government power with actions of Congress and the president.
First Liberty Institute President Kelly Shackelford made a similar statement last month, saying, “Any attempted power grab by Congress to control the Supreme Court would put all our freedoms in jeopardy.”
The present controversy over First Liberty Institute is the second time in the past four years Ginni Thomas’ conservative political activities created an apparent conflict of interest for her husband.
In 2020, as former President Donald Trump claimed the presidential election was stolen from him by voter fraud, Ginni Thomas sent emails to 29 Arizona legislators urging them to choose “a clean slate of electors” after the first of the state’s electors gave the victory to Biden.
She also sent emails to two Wisconsin lawmakers suggesting that they take action to set aside the popular vote that showed Biden won the state.
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