'Impeach Justice Clarence Thomas' Petition Passes 230K Signatures

A petition calling for the impeachment of Supreme Court Associate Justice Clarence Thomas has now passed 230,000 signatures, amid growing controversy about his wife.

The petition, hosted at MoveOn.org, had garnered more than 236,000 signatures as of early Thursday morning, with individuals adding their names just minutes before the site was examined by Newsweek.

Renewed interest in the petition comes after it was reported on Wednesday that the House of Representatives' Select Committee investigating the events of January 6, 2021 has obtained emails between Virginia "Ginni" Thomas and conservative lawyer John Eastman.

Eastman is considered the architect of a plan to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election by having then Vice President Mike Pence reject Electoral College votes on January 6.

Ginni Thomas, a conservative activist who is married to the Supreme Court justice, has been at the center of controversy over her conversations with former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, where she encouraged him to continue efforts to overturn the election results.

The MoveOn petition calls for Justice Thomas to either resign or be impeached and it has been live for at least two months.

It had passed 140,000 signatures by March 31. At that time, Ginni Thomas' communications with Trump White House staff about the election had become public knowledge.

The petition cites Ginni Thomas, saying she "was actively urging the White House to overturn election results both leading up to January 6 and after the deadly insurrection."

The petition also notes that Justice Thomas was the lone dissenting vote in a case where former President Donald Trump had attempted to shield certain documents from the Select Committee.

The Court voted 8-1 in January to uphold a lower court's decision that Trump could not assert executive privilege over the documents that committee was seeking, with Thomas voting against all of his colleagues.

Some critics at the time called for Thomas to either retire or be removed from the nation's highest court as a result of his dissenting vote.

"Thomas' failure to recuse himself warrants immediate investigation and heightened alarm," the petition says.

"And it's only the latest in a long history of conflicts of interest in the service of a right-wing agenda and mixing his powerful role with his conservative political activism," it says.

In an interview with The Washington Free Beacon in March, Ginni Thomas insisted her work was separate from her husband's.

"Clarence doesn't discuss his work with me, and I don't involve him in my work," she said.

Nonetheless, criticism has continued to mount about both Ginni and Clarence Thomas, while the Select Committee is reportedly considering addressing Ginni Thomas' actions during its public hearings. However, the committee already has a busy schedule and it is not clear if they will consider the matter.

Justice Thomas is the longest-serving member of the Supreme Court and only one justice has ever been impeached, Samuel Chase in 1805, though he was acquitted by the Senate.