Supreme court justice Clarence Thomas must recuse himself from ruling on Donald Trump’s eligibility for the 2024 presidential election, a prominent Democrat said Sunday, warning that the leading Republican candidate is seeking to become a “political martyr” as he pursues a second presidency.
Maryland congressman Jamie Raskin was speaking ahead of the nation’s highest court stepping in to adjudicate recent state rulings in Maine and Colorado that struck the former president from the general election primaries under the US constitution’s 14th amendment insurrection clause.
Thomas, whose wife, Ginni, a hard right conservative, was a vocal proponent of Trump’s big lie that his 2020 defeat to Joe Biden was fraudulent, should stand down ahead of the supreme court hearing the case, Raskin argued. Trump’s legal challenges could begin as early as Tuesday.
Raskin led the push for Trump’s second impeachment following the deadly January 6 riot that the ex-president’s supporters staged at the US Capitol.
Would this ruling in any way affect his wife? She hadn’t sworn an oath to uphold the constitution, nor is she running for office. So how exactly is she relevant to a case about the 14th amendment?
Love how the cons are all “how does his wife matter, she isn’t in the one who’s the judge?” but also “impeach Biden because of what his son did and the honour of the office!”
“But also don’t look too deeply into Jared and Ivanka and what they did while working at the White House for Ivanka’s father.”
There’s an amazing alternate timeline somewhere where Jared Kushner and Hunter Biden are cellmates in a Federal Prison somewhere, and nobody can question whether the DOJ is politicized because folks from both sides frequently go to jail when they commit crimes.
Please don’t put words in my mouth, or assume that I’m a conservative. Personally, I don’t see how a president could be impeached for something he did as a Vice President, no matter what past transgressions the Republicans end up finding related to Hunter Biden.
I wasn’t suggesting that Clarence Thomas not recuse himself because his wife wasn’t the judge, I just didn’t understand how her involvement in the insurrection had anything to do with a court case about interpreting the 14th amendment. And I’ve changed my mind on the recusal question after reading some of the good faith replies folks were nice enough to post.
She had direct involvement in the events of that day and is thus related to the case, so there is a conflict of interest for Clarence Thomas. It doesn’t matter if she is part of the trial itself, that’s not what determines a conflict of interest. The Justice has a personal connection to the case.
For a hypothetical to compare… Would it be okay if on a case involving say Hunter’s laptop, the spouse of a Biden family friend were the judge for the case? The judge may not directly part of the Biden family, and may not be directly related to the events, but they clearly have a conflict of interest.
A conflict of interest doesn’t mean that you’re directly involved, it means that you have a connection to the case that could be seen as having a bias outside normal court procedures.
Fair enough, you convinced me. I was originally only thinking of this as a limited case regarding the 14th amendment. But if the supreme Court rules against Trump in this case, they’d be ruling that there was an insurrection, which could open his wife up to legal liability on that front. Based on that new understanding, I’d agree that Clarence Thomas should recuse himself.
No, because Hunter’s laptop is Russian propaganda. He said so himself. Republicans are just jealous because Hunter is the smartest guy Joe knows.
She is relevant to any case that her husband presides over in which she is personallying implicated in direct involvement. A ton of evidence suggests she is very active in conservative politics and that her views have influenced court rulings by her husband.Their relationship by definition means Thomas has a conflict of interest and shouldn’t be hearing any cases, about then14th amendment or anything else.
A few sources https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-60871794
https://www.npr.org/2022/01/27/1076097533/how-ginni-thomas-wife-of-justice-clarence-thomas-influences-the-supreme-court
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-12-21/trump-immunity-claim-at-supreme-court-puts-clarence-thomas-under-pressure
https://www.newsweek.com/fact-check-was-clarence-thomas-lone-dissenter-trump-jan-6-documents-1716895