Courts

Want Clarence Thomas To Resign? You Aren't Alone

Resignation? Impeachment? Nothing?

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Justice Thomas Attends Forum On His 30 Year Supreme Court Legacy

(Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

Woo boy! The controversy surrounding Supreme Court justice Clarence Thomas and his wife, Ginni Thomas, isn’t ending any time soon. You’ll recall Ginni exchanged texts with Mark Meadows about the results of the 2020 election.

Despite his wife’s involvement in advising post-election strategy, Clarence Thomas went on to hear a case about the January 6th committee where he was the lone dissent when the Court rejected Trump’s efforts to block the release of presidential records to the committee.

It remains to be seen whether Thomas will recuse himself in future 2020 election cases — now that all this has been made public. The pressure for concrete action in response is ramping up.

Some have called for his resignation:

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And Politico reports Rep. Hank Johnson (D-Ga.) is also in camp resignation: “I frankly think it’s time for Justice Thomas to resign.”

But, frankly, that seems wildly unlikely. Like, do you want to buy the Brooklyn Bridge unlikely. If Thomas resisted pressure to resign during Trump’s presidency, which would have kept the seat in conservative hands, he won’t resign during Joe Biden’s run.

Others would like a written explanation, which sounds more like a homework assignment for a child than a plan to repair the legitimacy of the Court, but well, here goes:

On Monday, a group of 22 members of Congress, led by Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) sent Thomas and Chief Justice John Roberts a letter a written explanation. They called on Thomas to recuse himself from future cases relating to the election or the riot, saying federal law requires a judge to step aside in any case “in which his impartiality might reasonably be questioned.”

″[G]iven the recent disclosures about Ms. Thomas’s efforts to overturn the election and her specific communications with White House officials about doing so, Justice Thomas’s participation in cases involving the 2020 election and the January 6th attack is exceedingly difficult to reconcile with federal ethics requirements,” the letter says.

As we’ve noted before, the real issue is the lack of recusal standards or other ethical standards for the Supreme Court. Which is why the Brennan Center sees this as as opportunity to get a Supreme Court code of conduct. That’s also step one in Fix the Court’s 10-point plan to address the controversy.

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But some folks are touching that third rail, and mentioning the i-word: impeachment.

At least one House Democrat has so far called for Thomas’ impeachment: Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar. Another progressive, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), cracked open the door to impeaching Thomas: “What we know, if investigated further, could absolutely be grounds for potential impeachment.”

Not that everyone is on board:

“I’m very concerned about it, obviously,” House Judiciary Chair Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.) said. When asked about his colleagues’ calls to censure or even impeach, he said: “It’s much too early to talk about either one of those. I think we have to wait and see what the Jan. 6 committee finds.”

This controversy is far from over — indeed, it looks like Ginni might have some ‘splaining to do. Select panel chair Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) has some questions for her, “Based on the evidence we have in our possession, I feel very confident about inviting her to the committee. And if she refuses, issuing a subpoena.”

Now won’t that be interesting.

Kathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, host of The Jabot podcast, and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter (@Kathryn1).

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