Late last week, Speaker of House Nancy Pelosi blasted Justice Clarence Thomas’ ethics, telling reporters, “I don’t think he should have ever been appointed,” when asked if Thomas should resign. Pelosi also suggested that Congress could potentially investigate the ethics of Supreme Court members.
“It’s the Supreme Court of the United States, they’re making judgements about the air we breathe and everything else, and we don’t even know what their ethical standard is?” Pelosi said, suggesting that Congress might have hearings on the matter of Supreme Court ethics “pretty soon.”
“So that the Supreme Court has to at least have a code of ethics, A., and B., why should they have lower standards than members of Congress in terms of reporting and the rest?”
Pelosi’s comments come in the wake of vigorous GOP questioning of Ketanji Brown Jackson — Joe Biden’s gender-based and racially guided pick to take the seat of Justice Stephen Breyer, who is retiring this summer.
Several far-left congressional leaders — most notably Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC) — are calling for Thomas to resign or be impeached because his wife, Ginni Thomas, attended a rally near the White House on January 6, 2021, when some unrest occurred at the Capitol, which left-wing actors in politics and the media insist on calling an “insurrection.”
“Clarence Thomas should resign,” AOC tweeted. “If not, his failure to disclose income from right-wing organizations, recuse himself from matters involving his wife, and his vote to block the Jan 6th commission from key information must be investigated and could serve as grounds for impeachment.”
Since AOC is, apparently, the thought leader of today’s Democratic Party, Pelosi dutifully agreed, although stopping short of calling for Thomas’ ouster as a Supreme Court justice. Pelosi did attack Thomas’ wife, Ginni, for taking part in what the speaker termed “a coup.”
“If your wife is an admitted and proud contributor to a coup of our country, maybe you should weigh that in your ethical standards,” she said.
Pelosi went on to add that it is “a personal decision of a judge as to whether he should recuse himself” when considering cases involving the January 6, 2021 unrest at the Capitol.
Apparently, a series of texts between Ginni Thomas and former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows show that Mrs. Thomas was looking for a way to keep President Trump in office owing to the dubious vote counts in several states in the 2020 general election.
“Like so many married couples, we share many of the same ideals, principles, and aspirations for America,” Ginni Thomas explained to the Washington Free Beacon. “But we have our own separate careers, and our own ideas and opinions too. Clarence doesn’t discuss his work with me, and I don’t involve him in my work.”
GOP backlash against Pelosi openly questioning the ethics of the only current black member of the Supreme Court was swift. Abigail Marone, press secretary for Missouri Senator Josh Hawley tweeted: “But I was reliably informed that it was racist to oppose a Black SCOTUS nominee.…”
The House Judiciary account tweeted: “Pelosi should have never been Speaker, and won’t be much longer. Stand with Justice Thomas!”
Others suggested that Pelosi’s own ethics might not meet the standard she intends to set for the Supreme Court.
“The vicious attacks on Ginni Thomas as a means of harming her husband, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, now make it fair to declare open season on all spouses of prominent people we don’t like,” tweeted J. Michael Waller of the Center for Security Policy. “Let’s start with the most brilliant stock trader on earth, Paul Pelosi.”
Paul Pelosi, Nancy’s husband, runs the venture capital firm Financial Leasing Services, through which he and his wife — the Speaker of the House — have amassed a fortune since Mrs. Pelosi has been in office. When challenged in December of 2021 whether politicians should be able to trade in the stock market, Pelosi suddenly turned into a free-market capitalist.
“We’re a free market economy,” Pelosi told reporters during a news conference. “They should be able to participate in that.”
Especially when they have certain information before the public has it, right Madame Speaker? That makes the whole trading thing much easier.
