Justice Thomas' wife long steeped in conservative politics

WASHINGTON (AP) — Through a decades-long career in conservative politics, Virginia Thomas has repeatedly maintained that her political activities posed no conflict of interest with the work of her husband, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.

“Like so many married couples, we share many of the same ideals, principles, and aspirations for America,” Thomas said earlier this month in an interview with the right-wing 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.”

Justice Thomas faces renewed accusations of conflict of interest after revelations that his wife repeatedly urged aides to former President Donald Trump to resist the results of the November 2020 presidential election. A series of text messages between Virginia Thomas — known as Ginni — and former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows show her lobbying Meadows to fight the election results and offering strategic advice on how best to overturn President Joe Biden's victory.

The text exchanges, first reported by The Washington Post and CBS, highlight Thomas’ deep access to the Trump inner circle and her personal involvement in a divisive and destructive fight that many Trump supporters hoped would eventually end up in front of her husband on the Supreme Court.

Trump's attempts to change the results did eventually make it before the court, which refused to hear a collection of state-level challenges in February 2021. Justice Thomas called the cases an “ideal opportunity” to address an important question whether state lawmakers or state courts get the last word about the manner in which federal elections are carried out. He dissented, calling the ruling not to hear arguments in the...