{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://goldman.house.gov/media/press-releases/congressman-dan-goldman-demands-justice-clarence-thomas-recuse-himself", "Congressman Dan Goldman Demands Justice Clarence Thomas Recuse Himself from Upcoming Trump Election Interference Case", "2023-12-18", "2023", "2023-12", "Democrat", "House", "NY", "Daniel S. Goldman", "G000599", "goldman.house.gov", "goldman", "https://goldman.house.gov/media/press-releases", "scraper", "Read the LetterHere\n\nWashington, DC\u2013 Congressman Dan Goldman (NY-10) joined Congressman Hank Johnson (GA-04) to demand that Justice Clarence Thomas recuse himself from ruling on United States of America v. Donald J. Trump in whichformer President Donald Trump is charged with conspiring to overturn the legitimate results of the 2020 presidential election, conspiring to obstruct the certification of the electoral vote, and actually obstructing the certification of the electoral vote. Justice Thomas has already recused himself from anappeal by ex-Trump lawyer John Eastman in a case on the January 6 insurrection.\n\n\u201cWe know through public reporting and through Congressional investigations that your wife, Virginia (\u201cGinni\u201d) Thomas was intimately involved in Mr. Trump\u2019s alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 election and to obstruct its certification \u2013 the very conspiracies at issue in this case,\u201dthe members wrote.\n\nFollowing Donald Trump\u2019s attempts to overturn the 2020 election, public reporting has revealed that Ginni Thomas, Justice Thomas\u2019 wife, played a pivotal role in urging multiple states to overturn their results in the election as well as exchangingdozens of text messages with Trump\u2019s Chief of Staff Mark Meadows,urging him to continue their scheme of election fraud.\n\n\u201cThese details about your wife\u2019s activities raise serious questions about your ability to be or even to appear impartial in any cases before the Supreme Court involving the 2020 election and the January 6th insurrection,\u201d the members continued. \u201cIf you want to show the American people that the Supreme Court\u2019s recent Code of Conduct is worth more than the paper it is written on, you must do the honorable thing and recuse yourself from any decisions in the case of United States v. Trump.\u201d\n\nCongressman Dan Goldman hasrepeatedly called on Chief Justice John Roberts to establish an ethics counsel within Supreme Court to standardize ethics procedures, advise justices on ethical issues, and prevent ethical misjudgements.\n\nCongressman Goldman is also a cosponsor of theSupreme Court Ethics, Recusal, and Transparency (SCERT) Act and theJudicial Ethics and Anti-Corruption Act toformally establish a code of conductfor Supreme Court Justices.\n\nRead the letterhere or below:\n\nDear Justice Thomas,\n\nThis week, Special Counsel Jack Smith asked the Supreme Court to decide a key question in the case of United States of America v. Donald J. Trump, a case in which Mr. Trump is charged with conspiring to overturn the legitimate results of the 2020 presidential election, conspiring to obstruct the certification of the electoral vote, and actually obstructing the certification of the electoral vote. In this week\u2019s filing, Mr. Smith asked the Supreme Court to grant certiorari to decide \u201cWhether aformer President is absolutely immune from federal prosecutionforcrimes committed while in office or is constitutionally protected from federal prosecution when he has been impeached but not convicted before the criminal proceedings begin.\u201d The Supreme Court has directed Mr. Trump to file a response to the requestfor certiorari.For the reasons explained below, we strongly implore you to exercise your discretion and recuse yourself from this and any other decisions in the case of United States v. Trump.\n\nFaith in the Supreme Court has plummeted, and fewer than half of all Americans trust the Supreme Court. Public perception is growing that the Supreme Court flouts the rules, in large part due to your recently reported ties to and luxury travel with billionaire Republican donors that you hidfor decades. The public pressure has grown so intense, that last month the Supreme Court announced aformal\u2014though unenforceable\u2014Code of Conduct. You signed the Code, publicly proclaiming that you subscribe to it. In Cannon 3B, the Code states that \u201cA Justice should disqualify himself or herself in a proceeding in which the Justice\u2019s impartiality might reasonably be questioned, that is, where an unbiased and reasonable person who is aware of all relevant circumstances would doubt that the Justice could fairly discharge his or her duties.\u201d The Code details such instances, including those in which \u201cThe Justice or Justice\u2019s spouse...is known by the Justice:...(iii) to have an interest that could be substantially affected by the outcome of the proceeding; or (iv) likely to be a material witness in the proceeding.\u201d\n\nWe know through public reporting and through Congressional investigations that your wife, Virginia (\u201cGinni\u201d) Thomas was intimately involved in Mr. Trump\u2019s alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 election and to obstruct its certification \u2013 the very conspiracies at issue in this case. Your wife not only attended the pro-Trump rally that preceded the January 6th attack on the United States Capitol, she was one of nine board membersfor a conservative political group that helped lead the \u201cStop the Steal\u201d movement. She traded at least 29 text messages with Mr. Trump\u2019s Chief of Staff (Mark Meadows) in which she urged him to \u201cpursue unrelenting efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election,\u201d startingimmediately after Election Day 2020 and ending only days after the January 6th attack on the U.S. Capitol. In these text messages, your wife pleaded with Mr. Meadows to continue the fight to overturn the election results, calling the election a \u201cheist\u201d and saying in one message: \u201cSounds like Sidney and her team are getting inundated with evidence of fraud. Make a plan.Release the Kraken and save us from the left taking America down.\u201d Your wife also pressed Arizona and Wisconsin lawmakers to overturn President Biden\u2019s 2020 victory, urging them to set aside President Biden\u2019s popular-vote victory and to choose their own presidential electors, despite state law to the contrary. These details about your wife\u2019s activities raise serious questions about your ability to be or even to appear impartial in any cases before the Supreme Court involving the 2020 election and the January 6th insurrection.\n\nIf you want to show the American people that the Supreme Court\u2019s recent Code of Conduct is worth more than the paper it is written on, you must do the honorable thing and recuse yourself from any decisions in the case of United States v. Trump.", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-08T01:14:16Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://goldman.house.gov/media/press-releases/congressman-dan-goldman-demands-justice-clarence-thomas-recuse-himself"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.8612992241978645, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}