A petition to get 1.3 million signatures in support of the impeachment or resignation of Supreme Court Associate Justice Clarence Thomas is nearing its goal. The petition, organized by public policy advocacy group MoveOn, has already racked up more than 1.2 million signatures.
Per Newsweek, the petition is specifically focused on the role of Thomas’ wife, Virginia “Ginni” Thomas, a conservative activist who sent inflammatory text messages to former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows supporting “The Big Lie” about the results of the 2020 presidential election.
“Thomas’ failure to recuse himself warrants immediate investigation and heightened alarm,” the petition reads. “And it’s only the latest in a long history of conflicts of interest in the service of a right-wing agenda and mixing his powerful role with his conservative political activism. He has shown he cannot be an impartial justice and is more concerned with covering up his wife’s coup attempts than the health of the Supreme Court.”
“He must resign,” it demands, “or Congress must immediately investigate and impeach.”
The petition is not focused on Thomas’ opinion last month in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which helped overturn Roe v Wade, however, it notes, “Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas — who sided with the majority on overturning Roe — made it clear what’s next: to overturn high court rulings that establish gay rights and contraception rights.”
Appointed to the bench in 1991, Thomas is the longest-serving member of the Supreme Court and the most senior member of its conservative majority.
Calls to impeach him are likely to fall on deaf ears. Only one Supreme Court justice has ever been impeached, and that was in 1804. Samuel Chase was still acquitted by the Senate.
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