Clarence Thomas could deal a blow to Trump's Supreme Court hopes:  ex-U.S. attorney

Should the Supreme Court decide to listen to special counsel Jack Smith's request to hear arguments on Donald Trump's contention that he is protected by presidential immunity in a bid to get many of his criminal indictments tossed out, Justice Clarence Thomas may play a key part -- but possibly not in a way the former president would prefer.

According to former U.S. Attorney Joyce Vance in her Week Ahead newsletter, there is a very legitimate possibility that the far-right jurist may recuse himself based on recent history in a similar case.

That, in turn, could be a major setback for Trump that would then have a 5-3 conservative majority making a ruling.

According to Vance, "Given the gravity of the situation, the question of whether Justice Clarence Thomas will participate when the Supreme Court hears the appeal is all the more important," adding that Thomas has yet to announce whether he will participate in what could be a landmark case.

Vance then noted Thomas' close ties to the Jan. 6 insurrection via his wife, Ginni, who was an avid supporter of contesting the 2020 presidential election results and was in constant contact with Trump's White House chief of staff Mark Meadows.

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"In addition to the well-known support his wife Ginni lent to pushing the Big Lie, Thomas’ former law clerk John Eastman is Trump’s co-defendant in Georgia and an unindicted co-conspirator in this case," Vance wrote before suggesting, "Leaving aside the situation with his wife, which would be sufficient to cause any reasonably prudent jurist to sit the case out, Justice Thomas recently recused in another matter involving John Eastman. The relationship was too close for even Clarence Thomas to ignore."

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