Virginia “Ginni” Thomas, the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, allegedly expressed her gratitude behind the scenes to a group working against Supreme Court reforms, according to a new ProPublica report.
Ginni reportedly thanked litigator Kelly Shackelford’s nonprofit Christian conservative legal organization, First Liberty Institute, for their efforts to block the reforms targeted to stop ethical breaches in the Supreme Court, according to a private call obtained by the outlet.
“YOU GUYS HAVE FILLED THE SAILS OF MANY JUDGES. CAN I JUST TELL YOU, THANK YOU SO, SO, SO MUCH,” she reportedly wrote to Shackelford, who read out the email during a private call on July 31 with his group’s top donors.
The litigator went on to note during the call that Ginni’s email suggested that the nonpartisan Supreme Court justices, who “can’t go out into the political sphere and fight,” “appreciate” their work in blocking the reform and “protecting the future of our court,” per ProPublica.
Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas (R) and Virginia Thomas arrive for the State Dinner at The White House honoring Australian PM Morrison on September 20, 2019 in Washington, DC. Prime Minister Morrison is on a state visit in Washington hosted by President Trump.
Paul Morigi/Getty
The call reportedly came two days after President Joe Biden proposed a set of changes for the Supreme Court, including term limits for justices.
He also proposed a more enforceable ethics code for the justices, since they are not bound by the same code of conduct as other federal judges. These included requiring justices to be required to disclose financial gifts and “refrain from public political activity and recuse themselves from cases in which they or their spouses have financial or other conflicts of interest.”
Clarence is one of the conservative justices whose ethics have been called into question recently after he reportedly accepted “luxury vacations” from billionaire GOP mega-donor Harlan Crow for “more than two decades.”
Ginni herself has also reportedly accepted thousands of dollars in secret payments from right-wing judicial activist Leonard Leo.
Ginni Thomas, wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. Patrick Semansky/AP/Shutterstock
Ginni has previously been criticized for trying to help keep Donald Trump in the White House after he lost the 2020 presidential election.
Text messages between her and then-White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows were obtained by the U.S. House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot. In the messages, she appeared to privately urge Meadows to do what he could to prevent a transfer of power to Biden.
One of her messages read, “Do not concede. It takes time for the army who is gathering for his back.”
Ginni later told the House investigatory committee that she regretted “the tone and content” of her messages as she “was texting with a friend” and found her “language imprudent and my choices of sending the context of these emails unfortunate.”
Other communications presented to the committee showed that she sent emails pressuring Republican lawmakers in Arizona to choose their own electors — a responsibility that state law puts in the hands of voters.
Her communications with Trump allies raised questions about whether it posed a conflict of interest for her husband at the time, and whether Clarence should have recused himself from the multiple Supreme Court cases related to the 2020 presidential election.
