Of all the hare-brained ideas Democrats are bloviating about these days, this has got to be the absolute dumbest. Democrats are openly discussing the idea of impeaching Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas for supposed ethical violations in relation to his wife’s text messages on Jan. 6, 2021.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) on Tuesday became the latest voice on the left to call on Thomas to resign or face impeachment. She tweeted:
Clarence Thomas should resign.
If not, his failure to disclose income from right-wing organizations, recuse himself from matters involving his wife, and his vote to block the Jan 6th commission from key information must be investigated and could serve as grounds for impeachment.
Clarence Thomas should resign.
If not, his failure to disclose income from right-wing organizations, recuse himself from matters involving his wife, and his vote to block the Jan 6th commission from key information must be investigated and could serve as grounds for impeachment.
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) March 29, 2022
The calls for Thomas’ resignation began after reports revealed that Ginni Thomas, his wife, had several text message exchanges with former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows in which she allegedly urged him to overturn the outcome of the 2020 presidential election. The Washington Post reported on the messages, but did not display the actual text of the conversation between the two.
Ginni Thomas urged Mark Meadows to overturn the 2020 election by any means necessary—while her husband was ruling on cases attempting to overturn the election. A truly extraordinary level of corruption. https://t.co/Nyf2q1T9mo pic.twitter.com/2L73ERgCeS
— Mark Joseph Stern (@mjs_DC) March 24, 2022
The Hill reported:
Those revelations raised fresh questions about the justice’s refusal to step aside from related cases before the Supreme Court, including at least 10 rulings concerning the 2020 presidential election, without any indication of him recusing.
The ruling that has drawn the sharpest criticism came in January, when Thomas was the only justice who dissented in an 8-1 ruling that cleared the way for House investigators probing the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection to obtain Trump-era White House records.
Democrats have also called on Thomas to recuse himself from any future cases related to the 2020 election and the riot at the U.S. Capitol building. Unlike judges on lower courts, Supreme Court justices are not required by a code of conduct to recuse themselves from certain cases.
Regardless of what one thinks of the text message exchange between Ginni Thomas and Mark Meadows, it would be the very height of folly for Democrats to target Thomas right now. Pushing an impeachment proceeding against the justice would be about as smart as making fun of Jada Pinkett Smith’s hair in front of her husband, Will Smith. If the left pushes this endeavor, they will get slapped down in the upcoming congressional elections even harder than is already expected.
RedState’s Bonchie alluded to the reason why the left would be foolish to try this strategy. Democrats would be focusing their efforts to remove a Supreme Court justice for something his wife allegedly did, while everyday Americans are dealing with real issues like gas prices, jobs, and other problems. In fact, Jan. 6 is not on everyone’s mind nearly as much as the Democrats would like.
A Harris Poll conducted late in February revealed that the top five priorities for voters are economy and jobs, coronavirus, immigration, health care, and terrorism/national security. Unless removing Thomas from the court is going to put more money in people’s wallets, destroy the pandemic, halt the flow of illegal immigrants into the country, fix the health care system, and keep Americans safe from threats, nobody wants to hear about it.
In fact, Jan. 6 ranked at the very bottom of the list, at 5 percent.
The bottom line is that despite House Democrats launching a witch hunt investigation into the riot, nobody seems to be talking about the incident anymore. The left has milked this thing for all it’s worth, but they don’t seem to realize it yet.
If Democrats pull the nation through yet another politically-motivated impeachment attempt while Americans are paying more than $4 per gallon at the pump, it will further solidify the perception that they are out of touch with the public. It will demonstrate that they are only out for power and not concerned about what everyday Americans are dealing with on a daily basis. Even worse, the effort would likely fail miserably, and Thomas will remain seated on the court.
To put it simply, Democrats have nothing to gain by this and everything to lose. But hey, if they want to shoot themselves in the foot, who are we to stop them?
