Why Is Clarence Thomas Still Ruling On Jan 6th Cases?

Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas has voted yet again to block the Jan. 6th committee from getting essential information regarding Trump’s alleged involvement in changing the 2020 Presidental election to his favor. Yesterday, the Supreme Court rejected an emergency request by Arizona Republican Chair Kelli Ward to block her records associated with her T-Mobile cell phone from getting to the Jan. 6th select committee, according to NBC News. Ward was alleged to be a key player in former President’s Trump plot to steal the 2020 Presidential election as a fake elector.

If you remember, Thomas was the lone dissent in a Trump case to try to stop the release of White House records held by the National Archives from getting into the hands of the Jan. 6 committee. With this Arizona case, Justices Thomas and Samuel Alito stated they would grant Ward’s request to block the documents. However, neither wrote an opinion on why they would grant the request.

Another aspect of the Arizona case ruling involves Ginni Thomas, wife of Justice Thomas.. Thomas was not only in contact with former White House officials to overturn election results, but also emailed 29 lawmakers in Arizona, Arizona House Speaker Rusty Bowers, and Rep. Shawnna Bolick, claiming that fraud was the reason Trump lost. Ward and her husband, Michael Ward, were among 14 of 84 “alternate electors” subpoenaed this year by the Jan. 6 committee, as NBC News notes.

Here, you have a specific case where the Supreme Court Justice who claims to be impartial is voting to shield his spouse from potential liability. It’s known that Supreme Court judges have to recuse themselves from cases voluntarily. Justice Thomas has already done so in cases involving his son, but none with this wife. The U.S. House committee had advanced an ethics bill that Thomas would have to abide by, but there’s little chance it would make it through the Senate.