Two dozen Democratic lawmakers demanded that Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas not be involved in future cases related to pro-Trump efforts to challenge the 2020 election results.
In a letter dated Monday, 24 Democrats in the House and Senate asked the senior justice to immediately issue a written explanation for his failure to recuse himself from such cases.
They pushed for a Code of Conduct for the high court that would require all justices to issue written recusal decisions.
The requests came after news outlets revealed late 2020 and early 2021 texts that showed Thomas' wife urging Trump's chief of staff to try to overturn Biden's victory. Virginia Thomas' involvement in the push to overturn Biden's victory has raised questions about whether her husband can rule impartially if the Supreme Court hears cases related to the effort.
A cache of 29 text messages shows a frantic, conspiracy-laden dialogue between Thomas, a conservative activist who goes by Ginni, and the top White House aide after Biden beat Trump.
After news outlets projected that Biden won the election, Thomas wrote a letter to Mark. Biden and the Left are attempting the greatest Heist of our History.
According to reports, Thomas sent a text to Meadows that she believed pro-Trump attorney Sidney Powell and her team were getting inundated with evidence of fraud.
Make a plan. She wrote "release the Kraken and save us from the left taking America down."
The urgent need for ethics reform at the Supreme was linked by the letter.
These revelations and prior reporting about Ms. Thomas raise serious questions about Justice Thomas's involvement in cases before the Supreme Court.
Justice Thomas has not disclosed the extent of his knowledge about his wife's activities or the court cases she was involved in.
They noted that Thomas was the only high-court justice who would have granted Trump's request to block the transfer of White House records.
The letter said that the presidential records could contain communications between Ms. Thomas and top White House officials.
A Supreme Court spokeswoman did not immediately respond to CNBC's request for comment.
Twenty-one of the Democrats who signed the letter are on the House and Senate Judiciary Committees. The chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee told NBC News that Thomas should not be involved in any cases related to the January 6 riot.
The Supreme Court has the power to act now as Congress considers its response to Justice Thomas's potential violations of ethics laws.
The Democrats want Roberts to create a binding Code of Conduct for the Supreme Court by the end of April.
The Democrats wrote that the rules should include provisions to make sure that the Justices comply with the Code.
Chief Justice Roberts has spoken about the importance of the Supreme Court's credibility and legitimacy as an institution.
The most senior member of the Supreme Court is Thomas. The justice was hospitalized with an illness and the texts between his wife and Meadows were revealed. According to the court, Thomas was discharged Friday after a week in the hospital for flu-like symptoms.
Thomas did not take part in the arguments. On Monday and Tuesday, he joined oral arguments remotely.
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