Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas’s wife, Ginni Thomas, advocated for the overthrow of the government by pressuring Arizona state lawmakers to illegally overturn Trump’s loss. Meanwhile, the staunchly right-wing Justice Thomas continues to rule on SCOTUS cases that directly impact the insurrection aftermath.

He has recently voted again to block the Jan. 6 committee from obtaining essential records regarding Trump’s alleged involvement in changing the results of the 2020 presidential election. Ultimately, the Supreme Court rejected Arizona Republican Chair Kelli Ward’s emergency request to block her cell phone records from getting to the Jan. 6th select committee. But in an unsigned dissent, Justice Thomas indicated that he would have blocked enforcement of the committee’s subpoena for those records.  

This is the second time Thomas has indicated his intent to hinder the committee’s investigations. Previously, he had been the lone dissent in Trump’s bid to stop the release of White House records held by the National Archives from getting into the hands of the Jan. 6 committee. Text messages later revealed that Ginni Thomas had communicated with former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows about the need to overturn the election.

Here, we have a Supreme Court justice who claims to be impartial but is voting to shield his spouse from potential liability. Clarence Thomas’s failure to avoid such conflicts of interest further undermines public trust in the court at a time when its legitimacy is already a matter of significant public debate.

We must hold Clarence Thomas accountable for flouting the ethical rules that apply to every other judge in the country.

The House Judiciary Committee recently announced a hearing to investigate Operation Higher Court — a program initiated by far-right religious groups to influence justices — and politicking at SCOTUS. This is a start, but until SCOTUS justices are held to a binding code of ethics — like every federal judge in this country except the nine justices of the Supreme Court — to prevent such conflicts of interest, we will continue to advocate for just that

Sign the petition: Congress must investigate Clarence Thomas’s unethical behavior.