Critics were stunned Saturday after Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas scolded Americans for not accepting controversial rulings — after his own wife battled against the results of a legitimate presidential election.
Thomas chided a distraught public in comments Friday at a judicial conference in Atlanta following the leak of a draft Supreme Court opinion that would gut Roe v. Wade and a half-century of the right to an abortion.
He complained that Americans are “addicted” to results they want — while “not living with” rulings they oppose. He warned that the court will not be “bullied” in the face of protest. Declining respect for the law and institutions, Thomas warned, “bodes ill for a free society.”
Thomas detractors were agog. Not only has his wife, Virginia “Ginni” Thomas, refused to “live with” the presidential election, he was the sole Supreme Court justice to vote that former President Donald Trump should not have to release his White House documents to the House committee investigating last year’s insurrection.
Ginni Thomas, who had special access to the Trump administration because of her husband’s position, peppered then-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows with dozens of texts as she worked feverishly to upend the results of the election. That revelation in March triggered calls for Justice Thomas to recuse himself from all insurrection issues — or be impeached.
Is it ok to be bullied into over turning the results of an election? Asking for a ‘friend’. https://t.co/e85PjCY8Bn — Vote Blue To Save Democracy #VoteBluein2022 🌊🌊🌊 (@parrot_this) May 7, 2022
Ginni and Clarence Thomas do seem to know a thing or two about bullying to get the results you want. pic.twitter.com/mi9kytDuQQ — The Lincoln Project (@ProjectLincoln) May 7, 2022
Thomas has also repeatedly attempted to rip up legal precedence set by the court.
“The irony is so thick you wonder if it’s maybe a Clarence Thomas impersonator,” former U.S. Attorney Harry Litman said on MSNBC Saturday.
“Among other things, this is a guy who has spent a lifetime trying to take a battering ram to all the Supreme Court major precedents” of law, Litman added. “He’s now saying people don’t respect the law enough. That’s even leaving aside all the controversies he has engendered, as has his wife. It’s just ... remarkable.”
Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.) wrote that it’s the Supreme Court aiming to “bully” women “into having government-mandated pregnancies.”
Justice Clarence Thomas is wrong, again. Governments are bullying women into having government-mandated pregnancies, under threat of jail. Multiple Supreme Court Justices lied during their confirmation process about their view of #RoeVWade and stare decisis. Those are the facts. https://t.co/4kUUVpckPG — Ted Lieu (@tedlieu) May 7, 2022
Rep. Cori Bush (D-Mo.) pointed out even before the speech that both Thomas and conservative Justice Brett Kavanaugh were questioned about credible accusations of sexual misconduct in their confirmation hearings, yet are deciding reproductive rights for women.
As a survivor, I am thinking about how Brett Kavanaugh and Clarence Thomas are credibly accused of having violated and harassed women and are now the ones about to deny us our right to abortion care.
Abusers do not belong in public office. Period. — Cori Bush (@CoriBush) May 4, 2022
And that was just the beginning.
“We can’t be an institution that can be bullied into giving you just the outcomes you want.” - Clarence Thomas, yesterday
“Let’s bully Congress into giving us just the outcomes we want.” - Ginni Thomas, January 6, 2021 — Tristan Snell (@TristanSnell) May 7, 2022
Women shouldn’t be bullied to have babies by a Supreme Court that recognizes only one religion as legitimate, and seeks to impose their personal convictions upon the entire country, despite 70% of the country being against them. — 𝔻𝕒𝕧𝕖 (@opusworks) May 7, 2022
Someone should ask Thomas to define the word "bullying". Is it what he did to Anita Hill? — Rick (@response_w) May 7, 2022
So the Supreme Court justice whose wife sent text messages pressuring White House staff to do more to overturn a free and fair election doesn’t believe government officials should be “bullied into delivering the preferred outcome?” Do tell. 🤦🏻 — Greg Pearson 🇺🇸😷🚴🏼♂️💉 (@GDNPearson) May 7, 2022
Shame Clarence Thomas didn't tell his wife Ginni to learn to "live with" the outcome of the 2020 election. — Janice Hough (@leftcoastbabe) May 7, 2022
Thadrea on May 8th, 2022 at 13:00 UTC »
If you weren't out here telling us to "just live with" Dred Scott 2.0 perhaps there wouldn't be declining respect for your institution.
DrMantisToboggan777 on May 8th, 2022 at 12:54 UTC »
Clarence Thomas is a disgrace to the court
QuoteGiver on May 8th, 2022 at 12:37 UTC »
Odd that he couldn’t just deal with it and leave the previously already settled decision on Roe alone, then…