Ginni Thomas is making U.S. Supreme Court Justice Amy Comey Barrett look willfully naïve.
The wife of Justice Clarence Thomas confirmed this week that she had attended the Jan. 6 "Stop the Steal" rally, which preceded the U.S. Capitol riot, and MSNBC columnist Steve Benen said her actions undermine Barrett's assurance last year during an appearance alongside Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY).
“My goal today is to convince you that this court is not comprised of a bunch of partisan hacks,” Barrett said in September.
Thomas insisted that she got cold and left the event before Donald Trump spoke, and she denied any involvement in planning that rally or brokering peace between feuding organizers, but Benen said her admitted actions bring dishonor on the court and her husband's reputation.
READ: MSNBC's Rachel Maddow spiked Keith Olbermann as her replacement as show nears end
"In case this isn’t obvious, Ginni Thomas is not just some random person with conservative political beliefs," Benen wrote. "She is a power player in far-right politics: Jane Mayer’s recent New Yorker piece described a White House meeting, held in the Roosevelt Room a couple of years ago, in which Thomas 'pressed Trump to purge his administration of disloyal members of the "deep state," handing him an enemies list' that she’d helped compile."
"The same New Yorker article noted that Thomas works directly with political organizations that have had stakes in cases pending at the Supreme Court," he added. "Justices can decide on their own whether to recuse themselves from cases, and Clarence Thomas has chosen not to bother."
