A legal expert said that Democrats and the media are trying to use recently surfaced text messages of Virginia “Ginni” Thomas, wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, to attack the justice and that she was not trying to overturn the 2020 election.
“Ginni Thomas is not trying to overturn the elections,” attorney Joseph McBride told The Epoch Times. “She is a private citizen, and as such, she is able to speak her mind on any issue. She is entitled to believe whatever she wants to believe on any issue, be it political, spiritual, or sports.”
McBride is the founder of the McBride Law Firm, PLLC. He primarily focuses on federal civil rights cases and currently represents about ten detainees or defendants related to the Jan. 6 Capitol breach.
On March 24, The Washington Post and CBS News reported on text message exchanges between Ginni Thomas and then-White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows during a roughly 20-day period after the 2020 election. Since then, Democrats and the corporate media have been overwhelmingly criticizing Thomas for trying to “overturn the 2020 election” or “embrac[ing] of conspiracy theories.” Some even claimed that Justice Thomas should recuse himself from any Jan. 6 or 2020 election cases, be impeached, or resign from the high court.
Those 29 text messages—21 from Ginni Thomas, 8 from Meadows—were part of some information previously submitted by Meadows to the Jan. 6 House Select Committee. Meadows later declined to cooperate with the committee, and the House voted in December to hold Meadows in criminal contempt of Congress.
According to the news outlets, on Nov. 10, Thomas wrote to Meadows: “Help This Great President stand firm, Mark!!!...You are the leader, with him, who is standing for America’s constitutional governance at the precipice. The majority knows Biden and the Left is attempting the greatest Heist of our History.”
In a Nov. 24 text message, Thomas wrote, “I can’t see Americans swallowing the obvious fraud. Just going with one more thing with no frickin consequences... the whole coup and now this... we just cave to people wanting Biden to be anointed? Many of us can’t continue the GOP charade.”
Later Meadows replied, “You’re preaching to the choir. Very demoralizing.”
Among those messages, Thomas also asked Meadows to help attorney Sidney Powell “be the lead and the face” of the White House legal team; urged Meadows to “buck up” White House staffers and straighten their spirits; and listen to some conservative commentators such as Rush Limbaugh and Dan Bongino.
McBride said there’s nothing nefarious or ill-willed for Thomas to express herself about what she believes to be true.
“If she is asking Mark Meadows in her capacity as a private citizen, that ‘I think the election was stolen and you should look into it.’ There’s nothing wrong with that whatsoever,” said McBride.
“The belief that the election was stolen is a valid belief. It’s a politically protected belief. There’s nothing inherently wrong with it. And anybody in this country or in this world, for that matter, is permitted to believe it or to disbelieve it without judgment.”
Meadows’s attorney, George Terwilliger III, confirmed the existence of the 29 messages between his client and Thomas. He told The Washington Post that “nothing about the text messages presents any legal issues.”
Meadows hasn’t responded to a request from The Epoch Times for comment.
On March 25, Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) called on Justice Thomas to recuse himself from cases relating to Jan. 6 and any case related to the 2024 election “should Donald Trump run again.”
On the same day, Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) told CBS News that Thomas should consider “voluntarily appearing” before the Jan. 6 select committee for some explanation.
McBride blasted these comments, saying Thomas has demonstrated his ability to separate personal beliefs or outside influences from his decision-making during his career.
“Not under any possible set of circumstances should Thomas be forced to resign or recuse himself from any of these cases,” said McBride. “There was no justification under the sun for that to happen. People are stirring the flames of controversy in order to facilitate that conversation because they are threatened by Thomas’s ability to be a learned and well-thought-out justice who can apply lots of facts in a meaningful and objective way. Something that the other activist justices are incapable of doing.”
On March 25, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy(R-Calif.) said it’s up to Thomas to decide whether to recuse himself from any cases related to the Jan. 6 investigation,
“If you spent any time studying the Supreme Court Justice, he’s one who studies correctly, and I mean, from all the way through. If he sees it’s not upholding the Constitution, he'll rule against it,” McCarthy said in a news conference. “That’s what his job should be. It’s him.”
Ginni Thomas has denied any conflict of interest between her work and her husband’s work on the Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court information office hasn’t returned a request for comment.
McBride said Democrats and the media are trying to use Ginni’s actions “as a pretext to go after Justice Thomas.”
“What I can say about him is this: the way that he has lived his life, the way that he carries himself in this world, and the way that he has conducted himself on the bench is absolutely impeccable. And when you live an impeccable life the way he has, you make yourself unassailable by the evil powers in this world,” said McBride. “So to those who think they have the power to cancel Justice Thomas, good luck because you’re signing your own defeat.”
