Justice Thomas Now Facing Pressure to Recuse Himself from Trump Case

The attacks against Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas have started again.

With the first of what I believe will be many Donald Trump cases to make its way to the Supreme Court, Thomas is now being asked to recuse himself from the case.

This, of course, is all tied to comments and posts made by his wife, Ginni Thomas, about the 2020 election.

Remove Yourself

Quite frankly, I am surprised that Thomas is the only one being asked to recuse from this case, as I thought for sure they would go after every appointment he made to the court.

The case is the January 6 case being tried in Judge Chutkan’s courtroom, brought by Special Counsel Jack Smith.

A decision has to be made if Trump was carrying out the official duties of the office of the president or if he was outside that scope.

Trump’s legal team has appealed the decision that Trump does not have presidential immunity in this case, and Special Counsel Jack Smith decided to cut out the middleman and ask the Supreme Court to rule on the matter since this is where the case would ultimately wind up anyway.

Trump’s legal team now has until December 20 to file its response to the motion made by Smith.

Democrats and the media are jumping all over the idea that Thomas needs to recuse himself, with this being an example…

So, Clarence Thomas, whose wife Ginni Thomas had a major role in overturning the 2020 election, has yet to recuse himself from the presidential immunities case, which means he could be one of nine justices who decide the case. Clarence Thomas must recuse himself now.

— Victor Shi (@Victorshi2020) December 11, 2023

Saying she had a “major role” is a bit of a stretch as all she did was send a couple of texts to Trump’s then-Chief of Staff, Mark Meadows, not to mention the fact the results of the election were not overturned.

Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) has piled on, stating, “There's been enough information raised about Mr. Thomas and his spouse that he ought to think twice about recusal in this case.”

My gut tells me that Thomas will not recuse himself from this, but you just never know these days.

Even without his vote, I don’t think it will change the ruling of the Supreme Court. This court has already leaned into presidents not being absolutely immune unless they were acting in the official capacity of the office.

Trump’s legal team will argue that Trump was defending the sanctity of our elections, while the Defense will argue that this was a campaign-type event and had nothing to do with his presidential duties.

We know all three liberal justices will rule against it, but the wildcard here is Chief Justice Roberts, as at least one of the Trump-appointed justices seems to follow him, so Roberts is the key to all of this, and he is as unpredictable as the weather these days.