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Conservative activist Virginia Thomas, the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, implored 29 Arizona lawmakers to reverse former President Donald Trump’s 2020 election loss in the Grand Canyon State by choosing new electors — 27 more than previously thought, according to a new report.
One month after the Washington Post reported that Ginni Thomas, as she is known, had emailed two lawmakers in November and December 2020, additional documents obtained by the outlet revealed she sent similar messages to more than two dozen others.
Also: House Jan. 6 panel to aim to interview Ginni Thomas: report
According to the report, the documents indicate that Thomas sent emails to 20 members of the Arizona House and seven members of the state Senate on Nov. 9 through FreeRoots, which allows political organizations to produce email campaigns.
The pre-written emails were reportedly identical in their content, calling on the lawmakers to “stand strong in the face of political and media pressure.” It also claimed that they had the “power to fight back against fraud” and “ensure that a clean slate of Electors is chosen.”
While the Constitution gives state legislatures the authority to select electors however they see fit, in Arizona all electoral votes are given to the candidate who won the popular vote in the state.
On Dec. 13 — one day before the Electoral College met to cast votes — Thomas also sent an email to 22 Arizona House members and one state senator.
“Before you choose your state’s Electors … consider what will happen to the nation we all love if you don’t stand up and lead,” the email reportedly read, linking to a video that also urged the lawmakers to “not give in to cowardice.”
From the archives (December 2020): ‘Democracy prevailed,’ Biden says after Electoral College affirms his ‘clear victory’
Thomas did not immediately respond to a New York Post request for comment.
The recipients of the emails included Arizona House Speaker Russell Bowers and 2020 House Elections Committee member Shawnna Bolick — who were previously identified by the New York Post — as well as then-state Rep. Anthony Kern, who was photographed outside the Capitol building during the Jan. 6 riot.
The newly discovered emails prompt further questions about Clarence Thomas’s involvement in Supreme Court cases related to the 2020 presidential election.
In March, a joint Washington Post/CBS News report revealed that Thomas sent a series of text messages to then–White House chief of staff Mark Meadows in the weeks following the election, pushing for the reversal of Trump’s loss.
“Help This Great President stand firm, Mark!!!” Thomas reportedly wrote in a Nov. 10, 2020, message.
“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.”
On Nov. 5, 2020, two days after Election Day, Thomas reportedly wrote to Meadows, “Do not concede.”
At the time, many Democratic lawmakers and legal scholars called on Clarence Thomas to recuse himself after he was the lone dissent in an 8-1 Supreme Court decision refusing to block the release of a trove of documents that Trump had fought to keep from the House select committee investigating the riot.
From the archives (January 2022): Republican senator stands ground as Trump attacks him as ‘jerk’ and ‘RINO’ for conceding that Biden’s election in 2020 was fair
“Judges are obligated to recuse themselves when their participation in a case would create even the appearance of a conflict of interest. A person with an ounce of common sense could see that bar is met here,” Sen. Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat, said in a statement.
“At the bare minimum, Justice Thomas needs to recuse himself from any case related to the January 6th investigation, and should Donald Trump run again, any case related to the 2024 election.”
“In light of new reporting from numerous outlets, Justice Thomas’s conduct on the Supreme Court looks increasingly corrupt,” Wyden added.
A version of this report has appeared at NYPost.com.
Read on (February 2022): New York Times story about Clarence Thomas and his wife, Ginni, sparks an outcry
