Impeach Clarence Thomas Petition Hits 700k Signatures Week Since Roe Ruling

The petition calling for the impeachment of Justice Clarence Thomas has garnered 700,000 signatures only after a week since the historic abortion ruling on Roe v. Wade.

Three days after the decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, the petition, which was organized by the pubic policy advocacy group MoveOn, saw a sharp increase in support and reached 300,000 signatures.

This surge appears to be continuing. The petition didn't initially mention the ruling and instead focused on the January 6 Capitol insurrection.

Since then, the section on the petition under 'Why is this important' has been updated.

"The right-wing rigged Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last week, effectively taking away the right to privacy and bodily autonomy that's been considered legal precedent for the past 50 years," the updated petition reads.

"Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas— who sided with the majority on overturning Roe— made it clear what's next: to overturn high court rulings that establish gay rights and contraception rights."

This was in reference to a concurring opinion Thomas gave following the Supreme Court's decision last Friday.

"In future cases, we should reconsider all of this Court's substantive due process precedents, including Griswold, Lawrence, & Obergefell," he said.

"We have a duty to 'correct the error' established in those precedents," Thomas continued. "After overruling these demonstrably erroneous decisions, the question would remain whether other constitutional provisions guarantee the myriad rights that our substantive due process cases have generated."

The petition also raised the issue of Clarence Thomas's wife and his refusal to recuse himself regarding issues surrounding the 2020 presidential election.

"And if that is not enough: Recently, Justice Clarence Thomas voted against a Supreme Court decision to compel the release of Donald Trump's records regarding the January 6 insurrection and attempt to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election," the petition said.

"It has become clear that his wife—longtime conservative activist Ginni Thomas—was actively urging the White House to overturn election results both leading up to January 6 and after the deadly insurrection.

"Thomas's failure to recuse himself warrants immediate investigation and heightened alarm.

"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.

"He has shown he cannot be an impartial justice and is more concerned with covering up his wife's coup attempts than the health of the Supreme Court.

"He must resign—or Congress must immediately investigate and impeach."

You can find a link to the petition here.

Newsweek has contacted Clarence Thomas for comment.