Washington (CNN)Virginia “Ginni” Thomas’ attendance at the January 6, 2021 rally that preceded the violent attack on the US Capitol has raised a number of questions about the connection between her activism and the work of her Supreme Court Justice husband , Clarence Thomas, raised.
Thomas told The Washington Free Beacon that while she attended the “Stop the Steal” rally, she did not help organize it and left before things turned violent.
Still, her presence on the Ellipse has brought a wave of scrutiny to her activism and the way the Supreme Court addresses questions about potential conflicts of interest.
Here’s what you need to know:
What did Thomas say about her role at the rally?
While Thomas confirmed attending the event, she insisted she “didn’t play a part in those who planned and ran the January 6 events.”
“There are reports in the press that suggest I paid or organized buses. I did not do it. There are other stories that say I mediated between warring factions of leaders that day. I didn’t do it,” Thomas told The Washington Free Beacon.
Her comments follow an extensive profile from The New York Times Magazine in which Conservative activist Dustin Stockton said he had been told Thomas was a mediator between competing camps of rally organizers “so that there would be no division around January 6th”.
“The way it was presented to me was that Ginni combined these different factions into a single mission on January 6,” Stockton told the Times. “Ginni being involved made sense – she’s fairly neutral and doesn’t have many enemies in the movement.”
What did Thomas say about the violence after the rally?
“I was disappointed and frustrated that violence broke out after a peaceful gathering of Trump supporters on the Ellipse on Jan. 6,” Thomas told The Washington Free Beacon.
Social media posts Slate received show her cheering on the Jan. 6 rally that preceded the attack on the Capitol, though according to the outlet she later clarified that she had made the posts before the rally became violent.
Do Thomas’ actions create a conflict of interest for her husband?
It depends on who you ask
Progressives and some legal ethicists see a possible conflict with Thomas’ activism and her husband’s work on the Supreme Court. “The federal stay-at-home law states that any judiciary is ‘disqualified’ if its impartiality could reasonably be challenged,” said Gabe Roth of Fix the Court, a group calling for more transparency from Supreme Court justices.
“Here, Virginia Thomas attended the rally on the Ellipse, she is close to those summoned by the committee, and she is involved with several groups casting doubt on the 2020 election results,” he added.
What did Thomas say about her activism and her husband’s job?
In her interview with the Washington Free Beacon, Thomas said that “the legal lead is my husband’s,” and she appeared to distance herself from the January 6, 2021 events.
“Like so many married couples, we share many of the same ideals, principles and aspirations for America,” Thomas told the Free Beacon.
“But we have our own careers and also our own ideas and opinions,” she added. “Clarence doesn’t discuss his work with me and I don’t include him in my work.”
How does the Supreme Court’s stayout work?
Supreme Court justices are largely free to decide whether to step down from cases and act cautiously because if they step down, no other judges could take their place to rule.
Clarence Thomas, in particular, did not back down as the Supreme Court considered questions about the legitimacy of the House probe into the Capitol attack in a case brought by former President Donald Trump to block the release of his White House records.
While the Supreme Court allowed the documents to be disclosed, Thomas publicly disagreed.
Has Ginni Thomas’ activism ever led to scrutiny?
Yes. For years, she has shown little concern about her public outspokenness and political connections, which critics say undermine public trust in the institution.
While other judges’ spouses have shifted their careers to lesser-known roles after their partners took over the bench, Thomas has remained on the frontlines of various political struggles, including some of the most controversial fights of the Trump era.
Thomas, for example, spoke directly to Trump at a White House meeting, according to a report by The New York Times, where she discussed the staff the government hired.
Will the January 6 revelations slow Thomas’ activism?
Thomas, who runs a political consulting firm, told The Washington Free Beacon that she will continue in her role as a political activist.
After the rally, she signed a letter to House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, urging the Republican conference to fire GOP Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming and Adam Kinzinger of Illinois for their “egregious actions” as members of the House Inquiry Committee House of Representatives to remove the insurgency. Cheney and Kinzinger are serving at the request of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a California Democrat.
“If you want to be true to yourself and your calling, you must never allow yourself to be intimidated, chilled or censored by what the press or others say,” Thomas said in the interview.
CNN’s Ariane de Vogue contributed to this report.
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