Clarence Thomas should recuse in Trump, January 6 cases, Ron Wyden

A top Senate Democrat on Friday said Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas should recuse himself from any cases related to the Jan. 6 Capitol riot and the 2024 election should Donald Trump run for president again.

Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon said Thomas’ conduct “looks increasingly corrupt,” a day after the disclosure that the justice’s wife Virginia Thomas, a conservative activist, implored Trump’s White House chief of staff Mark Meadows to fight to reverse President Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 election.

In a series of 29 texts in late 2020 and early 2021, Ginni Thomas had urged Meadows to try to overturn the result. The texts were included in thousands of pages of records Meadows gave to the select House committee investigating the riot before he stopped cooperating.

The Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot began shortly after a Trump rally, which Ginni Thomas attended. During the event, the then-president urged supporters to march to Congress and pressure lawmakers not to confirm Biden’s win.

“Help This Great President stand firm, Mark!!!,” Ginni Thomas wrote Meadows on Nov. 10, 2021, three days after media outlets projected Biden as the winner.

“You are the leader, with him, who is standing for America’s constitutional governance at the precipice. The majority knows Biden and the Left is attempting the greatest Heist of our History,” she said.

Wyden, the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, said the revelation cast doubts on Clarence Thomas’ ability to hear key cases.

“In light of new reporting from numerous outlets, Justice Thomas’ conduct on the Supreme Court looks increasingly corrupt,” Wyden said in a statement.

“Judges are obligated to recuse themselves when their participation in a case would create even the appearance of a conflict of interest. A person with an ounce of common sense could see that bar is met here,” he said.

Wyden noted that Thomas had not recused himself in cases related to the 2020 election, and to the Jan. 6 riot.

“Justice Thomas participated in cases related to Donald Trump’s efforts to rig and then overturn the 2020 election, while his wife was pushing to do the same,” Wyden said.

“He was the lone dissent in a case that could have denied the January 6th Committee records pertaining to the same plot his wife supported,” he added.

“At the bare minimum, Justice Thomas needs to recuse himself from any case related to the January 6th investigation, and should Donald Trump run again, any case related to the 2024 election,” the senator said.

Wyden is the first senator to publicly call for Clarence Thomas not to hear Jan. 6 cases since the texts were reported.

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