It was reported on Tuesday that Ginni Thomas, the wife to Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, raised $600,000 in anonymous donations for her fringe political group over the past few years. It's a fund that is raising alarms among ethics hawks wondering if it has to do with the Thomas' work around the 2020 election.
The money, according to the report, was funneled through a right-wing think tank in Washington that agreed to help Thomas from 2019 until the start of 2022. It guaranteed that any donations were shielded from public view. Those donors would have been disclosed if they gave to Thomas' group directly.
"Yet another shocking display of audacity by the spouse of a sitting Supreme Court justice that raises brand-new questions about ethics and potential conflicts of interest," MSNBC host Nicolle Wallace said.
"Thomas' activism has set her apart from other spouses of Supreme Court justices," The Washington Postreport said. "She had aligned with numerous people and groups that have interests before the court and dedicated herself to causes that involve some of the most polarizing issues in the country. It was glaringly, Ginni Thomas' involvement in the attempted coup by the twice-impeached ex-president to overturn the results of the 2020 election he lost."
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Ginni Thomas was texting Mark Meadows, giving him strategy ideas. She was pressing the fake electors scandal on state lawmakers. It was thanks to Meadows that Thomas' text messages were exposed in which she begs him to "stand firm" and fight for Trump to stay in office, despite losing.
"Not for nothing, while the Supreme Court acts like it doesn't care that the public isn't that into them anymore, stories like this are exactly why the public doesn't trust and — they've seen a collapse in public trust in the institution," said Wallace.
Brian Fallon with Demand Justice agreed, saying that it isn't just the unpopular rulings coming out of the court. It's also the ongoing ethics problems on display.
"So, there's a feeling that it's not only reaching decisions that are questionable, it's also reaching them through illicit means," said Fallon.
To Wallace, it was the funding piece of the story that stunned her.
"Because, you know, over here on Earth 1, you would do the opposite, right?" she asked. "If there were a nonprofit that involved the spouse of a Supreme Court justice, you would take the path that would bring about more disclosure, more transparency. Ginni Thomas does the opposite. She basically buries and hides the funding through a workaround that may or may not be legal. It's certainly not ethical or transparent. What do you make of the demented approach toward ethics and transparency?"
Fallon explained that there were some links to organizations that may seem political and not entirely ethical but wasn't illegal. His example was if Mrs. Thomas was lobbying on behalf of corporate interests seeking to loosen regulations. Given Justice Thomas hears cases related to those issues, it wouldn't be ethical.
"But it probably wouldn't stun Washington to the degree that her activities here do," said Fallon. "That's because she's a fringe figure, Nicolle. The people that she brought together for this nonprofit that received $600,000 was a rogues gallery of people that didn't belong in polite society in Washington, D.C. You've got the head of Project Veritas, who has been criminally prosecuted for the shady activity of that group. Charlie Kirk, these are people that say outrageous things that help provoke conspiracy theories that contributed to the riots that tried to overturn the government. And Ginni Thomas is in league with all of them. This should be shocking and appalling on both sides of the aisle. It should be 100 percent uncontroversial at this point to impose a mandatory code of ethics on the Supreme Court so that Clarence Thomas has to account for his wife's activities."
See the conversation below or at the link here.