Judge Clarence Thomas has been released from the hospital after a nearly week-long stay, the Supreme Court has said, and he is returning home to feel the political storm over his wife’s post-election 2020 election swaps and even recuse himself on Jan. 6 cases.
Thomas, 73, went to the hospital last Friday night for “flu-like symptoms” that were said to be unrelated to Covid-19. He was treated for the infection with antibiotics.
The judge skipped arguments before the high court on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, but Chief Justice John Roberts said he would participate in the cases using summaries filed by the parties and a transcript of the arguments.
And despite his hospitalization, Conservative Justice was the only dissenter in Thursday’s case, taking on their counterparts in a case where they sided with a death row inmate who wants his pastor to be able to pray out loud and touch him. during the execution.
In his only disagreement, Thomas stated that John Henry Ramirez repeatedly used judicial tactics to stay his execution and said that the current lawsuit “is just the latest iteration in an 18-year evasion scheme.”
The longest-serving high court judge was appointed by President George W. Bush in 1991.
Meanwhile, at least one member of Congress has called for Thomas to be impeached and one senator has called for him to withdraw from certain cases after texts received by the committee on Jan. 6 showed that his wife Jeannie Thomas promoted conspiracy theories about election fraud. 2020 exchanged views with former Trump administration chief Mark Meadows.
Judge Clarence Thomas was released from the hospital on Friday after nearly a week in the hospital.
Conservative activist Virginia “Ginnie” Thomas, 65, has called on a former Donald Trump aide to make controversial attorney Sidney Powell the face of the ex-president’s legal defense and has apparently frequently promoted QAnon’s beliefs in texts obtained by the Washington Post.
The Oregon Democrat called on Clarence to recuse himself in “all matters related to January 6 and the 2024 election.”
“Clarence Thomas should be impeached,” Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minnesota, tweeted Friday.
Thomas insisted last month that she was not involved in organizing the January 6 rally. She said she attended but got cold and left early, Free Beacon reports.
She also insisted that she and her husband work separately. “Clarence does not discuss his work with me, and I do not involve him in my work.”
The 29 messages are reported to be part of a huge package of documents that Meadows turned over to the House Select Committee investigating the attack on the Capitol.
“Mark (don’t want to wake you up)… Looks like Sydney and her team are inundated with evidence of fraud. To make a plan. Unleash the Kraken and save us from the Left taking over America,” according to a message Thomas allegedly sent to Meadows on Nov. 19.
Thomas sits with his wife and conservative activist Virginia Thomas (center) and Republican Senate Leader Mitch McConnell (right) as they wait to speak at the Legacy Foundation in October 2021.
Virginia Thomas – wife of now Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court Clarence Thomas – stands behind Thomas during a press conference following his 1991 confirmation.
Thomas shakes hands with then Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Joe Biden before his 1991 confirmation hearing.
“Release the Kraken” is a phrase that Powell popularized in connection with the alleged disclosure of fraud in the 2020 presidential election. It is commonly used among Trump’s far-right supporters.
The texts suggest that Thomas even had a hand in creating Powell’s message – and that she got the message out to more members of the Trump White House than Meadows alone.
“Just forwarded to your Gmail an email I sent to Jared this morning. Sidney Powell and improved coordination will now help the cavalry come in and expose the Fraud and save America,” Thomas Meadows reportedly wrote on Nov. 13.
“Jared” could potentially be attributed to Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser in his administration.
Virginia “Ginny” Thomas echoed the QAnon conspiracy theories and lashed out at GOP lawmakers who did not support Trump’s efforts to cancel the 2020 election in at least 29 text messages to former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, a new report says.
Powell was one of the first lawyers to come to the forefront of promoting Trump’s theories of election fraud. However, her wild statements and insistence on repeating them have made her a polarizing figure that has even caused former Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani to distance himself.
Thomas has long played a major role in conservative politics, having a hand in sourcing people for potential roles in the George W. Bush administration when she worked for the Legacy Foundation.
At the time, her husband, Clarence Thomas, was presiding over the landmark Bush v. Gore case that saw a Republican win in the contested 2000 election.
But Thursday’s reports show that the Supreme Court judge’s wife’s convictions have gone further than the traditional fields of right-wing politics, and that she has even promoted the work of shooting denier Sandy Hook to the upper echelons of the White House.
Two days after the November election, Thomas reportedly sent Meadows a YouTube video titled “TRUMP TILT with CIA Director Steve Pechenik, the biggest election story in history, QFS-BLOCKCHAIN.”
“I hope this is true; never heard anything like it before, or even a hint of it. Maybe???’ she wrote along with the video.
Pechenik, a former State Department official, said the killing of 26 people, including 20 young children, in Connecticut in 2012 was a “false flag.”
Thomas’s conservative activism sometimes drew ethical scrutiny from her husband, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.
Thomas then appeared to put forward the QAnon theory that Trump had somehow watermarked mail-in ballots to track fraud.
“Watermarked ballots in over 12 states were part of a massive Trump and military white hat operation in 12 key battlefield states,” Thomas wrote to Meadows.
She also said, “Partners in the Biden crime family and ballot fraud (elected officials, bureaucrats, social media censorship dealers, fake streaming media reporters, etc.) are being arrested and detained for ballot fraud right now and in the coming days. and will live on barges off GITMO to face military tribunals for sedition.”
On November 6, Thomas added: “Don’t give in. The army that is gathering behind him needs time.
On November 10, she asked Meadows to “help this great president stand” and referred to “the greatest robbery in our history.”
This was three days after Joe Biden was declared president.
The following message reportedly urged Meadows to heed conservative talk show hosts Dan Bongino, Rush Limbaugh and Mark Stein.
Earlier this month, it was reported that Virginia Thomas attended Donald Trump’s Stop the Steal rally outside the White House on January 6, 2021 — hours before the Capitol riot. However, she said she left before Trump took the stage.
Meadows replied, “I will stand firm. We will fight until there are no more fights. Our country is too expensive to give it up. Thank you for all that you are doing.’
The couple are reported to be longtime friends. Prior to joining the Trump White House, Meadows was a Republican House representative from North Carolina and a founding member of the conservative House Freedom Caucus.
Thomas, apparently touched, told Meadows, “I’m crying and praying for you guys!!!!! So proud to know you!
She also targeted Republican lawmakers who refused to support Trump, as evidenced by the report, apparently citing Republican Party representatives Louis Homert of Texas, Jim Jordan of Ohio, Paul A. Gosar of Arizona, and Chip Roy of Texas.
“The House and Senate guys are pathetic too…only 4 members of the GOP House of Representatives were seen at grassroots street rallies…Gomert, Jordan, Gosar and Roy,” Thomas allegedly wrote.
“Where the hell are all those who profited from the presidential coattails?!!!” she added on the same day.
In a Nov. 24 post, Meadows appears to be using a biblical reference to the battle between “good and evil” to describe Trump’s fight to topple Biden’s election victory.
“Evil always looks like the winner until the King of kings triumphs. When you do good, don’t be discouraged. The fight continues. I bet my career on it. Well, at least my time in Washington,” Meadows wrote.
Thomas replied: “Thank you!! It is necessary! That plus a conversation with my best friend just now… I’ll try to hold on. America is worth it!
The Post’s report notes that it’s not clear who the “best friend” Thomas is referring to is.
Thomas’ outspoken activism has repeatedly drawn ethical scrutiny to her husband, Clarence Thomas, who is known to many lawyers as the most conservative member of the Supreme Court.
The Thomases dined privately with the Trumps while they were still in the White House.
After that, Virginia Thomas was reportedly supposed to coordinate a meeting between Trump and her allies in Washington.
Clarence Thomas was hospitalized late last week, the Supreme Court said Sunday.
The High Court said his “infection” was not related to COVID-19, but nothing is yet known about the 73-year-old judge’s condition.