Dear MoveOn member,
As you read this message, the Supreme Court is hearing arguments about whether Donald Trump is disqualified from running for office due to his role in the January 6, 2021, insurrection.1 And now, the high court is also expected to hear an appeal by Trump of the "scathing" ruling Tuesday by a federal appeals court that Trump is not immune from criminal prosecution for his attempt to overturn the 2020 presidential election.2
Let's be clear: Justice Clarence Thomas has no business hearing these cases. His wife, Ginni Thomas, is a right-wing MAGA activist who worked to undermine the peaceful transfer of power.
Clarence Thomas's wife, Ginni Thomas, "repeatedly pressed" Trump officials to "pursue unrelenting efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election."3
She exchanged more than two dozen text messages, focused on overturning the election, with Trump's White House chief of staff, Mark Meadows.4
She corresponded with John Eastman, a former clerk for Clarence Thomas and a lawyer for Trump. Eastman had advocated a fringe legal theory that Vice President Mike Pence could block the certification of President Biden's Electoral College win.5
She attended the "Stop the Steal" rally before the attack on the U.S. Capitol on January 6.
And more than a year and a half after January 6, she even told the House committee investigating the attack that she still believed the 2020 election was stolen.6
In other words, she was a key player in the MAGA insurrection. Judicial ethics, including Supreme Court's new code of conduct—which Clarence Thomas signed—requires his recusal.7
MoveOn created a mobile billboard showing Ginni Thomas's text messages pressing to overturn the 2020 election results—and to demand Clarence Thomas recuse himself from these Trump cases pending before the court. The billboard circled the Supreme Court last week, as the court prepared to take the first Trump disqualification case. And now, as these cases come to a head, we're gearing up to turn up the heat on Thomas even more. But time is running out.
We know that our pressure on Clarence Thomas is working. He recently recused himself from a case about January 6 and Eastman, Trump's former lawyer.8
Our focus on Clarence Thomas is a necessary part of our broader fight to hold the Supreme Court accountable and protect America's democracy.
Thomas is the only sitting member of the Supreme Court who voted on Bush v. Gore in 2000—stopping the Florida recount and throwing the election to George W. Bush.9
We cannot let Thomas and the Supreme Court undermine another presidential election.
And if Thomas won't do the right thing and recuse himself, then we'll make it clear to Chief Justice John Roberts—who has insisted that the court adhere to the "highest standards of conduct"—that the integrity of the court is on the line.10
MoveOn is ramping up the pressure on Clarence Thomas to force him to recuse himself—and to ensure that justices are held accountable when they undermine the integrity of our judicial system.
Will you chip in $9 to fund our efforts to turn up the heat on Clarence Thomas?
Thanks for all you do.
–Alexis, Oscar, Erik, Nita, and the rest of the team
Sources:
1. "Some want Justice Thomas to skip Trump's ballot case. He doesn't plan to." The Washington Post, February 6, 2024
https://act.moveon.org/go/186366?t=5&akid=374841%2E53570607%2EGIMBG6
2. "Takeaways from the scathing appeals court ruling denying immunity to Donald Trump," CNN, February 6, 2024
https://act.moveon.org/go/186367?t=7&akid=374841%2E53570607%2EGIMBG6
3. "Virginia Thomas urged White House chief to pursue unrelenting efforts to overturn the 2020 election, texts show," The Washington Post, March 24, 2022
https://act.moveon.org/go/161382?t=9&akid=374841%2E53570607%2EGIMBG6
4. Ibid.
5. Ibid.
6. Ibid.
7. "Some want Justice Thomas to skip Trump's ballot case. He doesn't plan to." The Washington Post, February 6, 2024
https://act.moveon.org/go/186366?t=11&akid=374841%2E53570607%2EGIMBG6
8. "Clarence Thomas recuses himself as Supreme Court rejects ex-Trump lawyer John Eastman's appeal," NBC News, October 2, 2023
https://act.moveon.org/go/186370?t=13&akid=374841%2E53570607%2EGIMBG6
9. "The Ghost of Bush v. Gore Haunts the Supreme Court's Colorado Case," The New Yorker, February 7, 2024
https://act.moveon.org/go/186368?t=15&akid=374841%2E53570607%2EGIMBG6
10. "Chief Justice John Roberts defends Supreme Court's 'highest standards of conduct,' offers no new rules," ABC News, May 24, 2023
https://act.moveon.org/go/186369?t=17&akid=374841%2E53570607%2EGIMBG6
Want to support MoveOn's work? The MAGA movement's book bans have forced teachers and librarians across the country to remove books from their shelves and censor what young people can learn. MoveOn is fighting back, including by filling a "Banned Bookmobile" with books that the far right has banned and driving it to key cities and towns to raise the visibility of book bans, hand out banned books for free, and bring people together to stop censorship. To keep up the fight against book bans and the MAGA politicians who support them, we need your help.
Will you make a gift to power MoveOn's critical work?
PAID FOR BY MOVEON POLITICAL ACTION, https://pol.moveon.org/. Not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee. MoveOn Political Action - PO Box 96142, Washington, D.C. 20090-6142.
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