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This is an adapted excerpt from the Sept. 4 episode of “The ReidOut.”
Ginni Thomas, wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, has reportedly made her feelings on efforts to reform the high court very clear. A new ProPublica investigation exposed how she heaped praise on the First Liberty Institute, a religious liberties group that’s put many cases before the court, for its efforts to block ethics reform at the Supreme Court.
Thomas expressed her appreciation in an email sent to the group’s CEO, Kelly Shackelford, who then read out her message during a private call with his group’s top donors. As ProPublica reports:
Thomas wrote that First Liberty’s opposition to court-reform proposals gave a boost to certain judges. According to Shackelford, Thomas wrote in all caps: “YOU GUYS HAVE FILLED THE SAILS OF MANY JUDGES. CAN I JUST TELL YOU, THANK YOU SO, SO, SO MUCH.”
Thomas just said the not-quiet part even louder. Her husband’s ethical lapses are already well documented — thanks, in part, to ProPublica.
We knew about all those emails she sent Jan. 6. We knew she was spreading Donald Trump’s big lie. We knew her husband didn’t recuse himself from cases related to the insurrection. We knew about all the gifts the Thomases received — that they were accepting tuition payments and lavish vacations from billionaire Harlan Crow.
Remember, every single federal court judge except the nine justices on the Supreme Court is already held accountable under ethics codes. There is no binding, enforceable code for the Supreme Court.
So when Thomas says First Liberty’s anti-reform efforts made a lot of judges’ days, she’s not talking about lower court judges. She’s talking about Justice Thomas.
Allison Detzel contributed.
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