Rep. Betty McCollum of Minnesota has called on Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas to resign from the bench.
In a Wednesday morning statement, McCollum accused Thomas and his wife Virginia — nicknamed “Ginni” — of having “undermined the Constitution and weakened our democracy.”
The couple has been facing leftist scrutiny and attacks after Ginni texted Donald Trump’s chief of staff Mark Meadows to get him to publicize alleged voter fraud in the 2020 presidential election and tell Trump to not concede.
In addition, Justice Thomas was the only dissenter in a recent 8-1 Supreme Court ruling that Trump cannot withhold certain documents from the House of Representatives’ January 6 Committee.
Rep. McCollum cited both of these stories in her statement calling on Justice Thomas to resign.
“As a member of the U.S. Supreme Court, Justice Thomas holds one of the most crucial roles in defending our Constitution, our laws, and our democracy,” she said. “Virginia Thomas’s involvement in the attempt to overthrow the 2020 Presidential Election, and the subsequent efforts by Justice Thomas to cover up his wife’s actions, have rendered the Associate Justice ethically compromised and thus unfit to be a neutral arbiter of justice.”
“As such, I call on Justice Thomas to resign from the United States Supreme Court.”
Last week, another Democratic member of the Minnesota delegation, Rep. Ilhan Omar, called for Justice Thomas’ impeachment on the same grounds.
Ginni Thomas has long been known for her outspokenly conservative political activism, while Justice Thomas has been a staunchly conservative voice on the high court for thirty years and counting.
In an interview with the Washington Free Beacon, Ginni explained that her marriage to Justice Thomas doesn’t mean they collude in their professional lives.
“Like so many married couples, we share many of the same ideals, principles, and aspirations for America,” she said. “But we have our own separate careers, and our own ideas and opinions too. Clarence doesn’t discuss his work with me, and I don’t involve him in my work.”
In a column for Alpha News, A.J. Kaufman wrote that Ginni’s conservative activism “has no bearing on her husband’s ability to do his job.”
“Put simply, Justice Thomas should not be held accountable for his spouse’s activism or rhetoric,” he said.
Evan Stambaugh
Evan Stambaugh is a freelance writer who had previously been a sports blogger. He has a BA in theology and an MA in philosophy.
