Senior Democratic lawmakers are increasing calls to create a code of ethical conduct for the US Supreme Court amid mounting scrutiny of associate justice Clarence Thomas and his wife, Virginia “Ginni” Thomas.
Chris Murphy and Amy Klobuchar, Democratic senators from Connecticut and Minnesota respectively, and Hank Johnson, a Democratic congressman from Georgia, are making a renewed push for the Supreme Court Ethics Act, a piece of legislation first introduced last summer to create a code of ethical conduct for America’s highest court.
Unlike other federal judges, Supreme Court justices are not required to follow the existing code of conduct for US judges.
The lawmakers called a press conference for Tuesday afternoon, saying: “Recent revelations regarding the political activities of Supreme Court justices and their spouses have increased scrutiny of the court and eroded public confidence in the institution.”
The Washington Post first reported last week the existence of nearly 30 text messages exchanged between Ginni Thomas, a conservative activist, and Mark Meadows, the former Republican congressman who served as Donald Trump’s final chief of staff, in late 2020 and early 2021.
The texts showed Ginni Thomas repeatedly espousing conspiracy theories and pushing Meadows to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.
Their publication has raised fresh questions about the independence of the federal judiciary and led several Democratic lawmakers to call for Thomas to recuse himself from cases relating to the 2020 election and the January 6 2021 attack on the US Capitol. Earlier this month, Ginni Thomas revealed in an interview that she had attended the “Stop the Steal” rally on January 6.
Other lawmakers have taken their case a step further, arguing Clarence Thomas should resign or face impeachment proceedings. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the progressive congresswoman from New York, said if the justice did not step down, he should be investigated and possibly removed from the nine-member bench.
US Supreme Court justices are appointed to the bench for life, though some choose to retire. There is a provision in the US Constitution for justices to be impeached and removed from office. Only one Supreme Court justice — Samuel Chase — has been impeached, but he remained in office after being acquitted following a senate trial in 1805.
A congressional panel probing the attack on January 6 — when mobs of Trump supporters stormed the Capitol in a violent attempt to interrupt the certification of Joe Biden’s election — has indicated it will seek an interview with Ginni Thomas as part of its investigation.
The text messages first published by the Washington Post were part of a much larger tranche of communications Meadows handed over to the committee to aid its probe.
The January 6 committee separately voted late Monday to recommend holding Peter Navarro, Trump’s one-time senior trade adviser, and Dan Scavino, who was a communications official in the Trump White House, in contempt of Congress for their failure to comply with the panel’s investigation.
The committee has already recommended similar charges be brought against Meadows, but the US Department of Justice has declined to indict the former White House chief of staff.
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