Eight House Democrats have asked Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas to recuse himself from considering whether Donald Trump is subject to criminal charges brought by special counsel Jack Smith over the former president’s quest to overturn the 2020 election results.
Rep. Henry C. Johnson Jr. of Georgia spearheaded the letter sent Friday to the senior justice, saying that the judiciary’s code of conduct suggests he should recuse himself because his wife, Virginia Thomas, advocated overturning the 2020 election.
Mrs. Thomas is a conservative activist who exchanged text messages with Trump allies aiming to overturn President Biden’s electoral victory. She also attended the pro-Trump rally on Jan. 6, 2021, but left before the mob headed to the U.S. Capitol, where the protest turned violent.
“If you want to show the American people that the Supreme Court’s recent Code of Conduct is worth more than the paper it is written on, you must do the honorable thing and recuse yourself from any decisions in the case of United States v. Trump,” Mr. Johnson wrote.
The high court recently adopted a code of ethics after pressure from Democratic politicians. In the past, the justices generally had followed the same code of conduct as lower courts.
Mr. Johnson noted in the letter that the code says justices should recuse themselves from a legal matter when a spouse has an “interest that could be substantially affected by the outcome of the proceeding” or could “likely to be a material witness in the proceeding.”
House Democratic lawmakers interviewed Mrs. Thomas in their probe of the Jan. 6 protest. She said she regretted texting former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows about reversing the election results; in one message she called the election a “heist.”
Last week, Mr. Smith petitioned the high court to decide if Mr. Trump can claim presidential immunity from criminal charges as the former president’s legal team has argued.
The trial is scheduled for March, but it could be delayed depending on the appeals process.
In the case, Mr. Trump is charged with conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, obstruction of an official proceeding and conspiracy against the right to vote.
A federal judge in Washington has ruled against Mr. Trump’s claim of presidential immunity.
Mr. Smith bypassed the federal appeals court in his request to have the justices quickly decide the issue.
It would take four justices to vote in favor of Mr. Smith’s request for the case over presidential immunity to be scheduled for oral arguments.
• Alex Swoyer can be reached at aswoyer@washingtontimes.com.
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