i want to turn to scotus our supreme
court and an absolutely extraordinary
story that you really have to know in
detail even if you've heard some of the
headlines we're living through a time
when democracy is under assault our
institutions
are at risk and the supreme court even
with its faults and blemishes is an
independent place where life tenure
justices are a backstop indeed remember
in 2020
for all the other divisions in our lives
in america
the court was on a bipartisan basis able
to say that there was
no merit to the challenges to biden's
victory that was something that
republican and democratic appointed
justices could agree on that's why there
never was a bush v gore style case that
even reached the court let alone siding
with some of the lies coming out of what
was the sitting president that's not
nothing it's a good thing to have an
independent court that can stand up to
the person who still has their finger on
the proverbial button
and yet now
we're looking at a story that questions
the independence of at least one member
of this court in grave ways
which leads us to calls for one member
of this court one justice and his wife
to potentially testify under oath in
what would be an unprecedented
investigation into their role
in hiding
communications with another branch
secret when in court is called ex parte
communications by the wife of this
justice as there was an attempted coup
going on i'm saying this very
deliberately in this way to give you a
sense of the import because that's where
we're at a nation learning new and
explosive details about how deeply
involved
the wife of a current supreme court
justice clarence thomas was
in efforts to overthrow the election
i'm talking about jenny thomas and the
washington post is reporting that she
went on an unrelenting effort applaud
to help
executive branch officials and others
push the big lie
now she is of course entitled to all of
her views and beliefs she's a longtime
conservative activist
back in 2010 she gave a speech
discussing her views
on a democratic run united states
we are witnessing an acceleration of
power grabs in washington
it's the left's version of shock and awe
if our rights are loaned to the
government
and ruled by an elite in washington that
thinks they know better we are living in
a diminished state of liberty right now
and freedom has never been this fragile
that is her right that was in public
that was transparent her view was that
barack obama being president and some of
the other things you heard mentioned
meant that freedom was more at risk than
ever before
this scandal tonight is different you
may have heard the outlines of it but
let's get into exactly what it is
because thanks to an investigation and
leaks the only reason this ever went
public in the first place we're learning
about a series of several dozen texts
that she sent to the white house
all around this big lie period and
ultimately an attempted coup which
raises profound questions about her
husband's independence on the high court
that would ultimately potentially rule
on this kind of stuff
she texted the top official in the white
house under trump mark meadows
that the left was attempting the
greatest heist of our history
because biden had won the election she
said the biden crime family quote will
be living in barges off gitmo to face
military tribunals for sedition
now you may hear that and say gosh
another unhinged rant a q anon blog post
but we're talking about someone
who shares a home with and a life with
and a marriage with
a justice of the supreme court they
actually do decide on whether or not
something's sedition and whether or not
imprisonment is warranted
it's also obviously on the facts absurd
and embarrassing
since it is the rioters at the jan 6
rally
who are facing sedition charges not
random people who participated in
the election
not the biden family
which suggests her grasp on the law is
tenuous at best
she would go on in these leaked texts to
encourage mr meadows quote make a plan
release the kraken
and save us from the left
a reference
to a right-wing conspiracy theory that
there is some sort of kraken style
alliance that would help trump stay in
office she also said you must buck up
your team on the inside mark
so this was her secret
coordination with donald trump's top
aide at a time when they were trying to
overthrow the election
now the last text that they have
according to this leak which i mentioned
comes during the gn 6 probe and
first obtained by the washington post
was on january 10th that's four days
after
the stop the steel rally which she
attended and the insurrection which she
said she didn't
she denounced then the riders who
stormed the capitol and said she was
still quote disgusted with mike pence
quote we are living through what feels
like
the end of america the end of liberty
that is her over-rod and somewhat
disturbing
summary
of the peaceful outcome of an election
that's what she says is the end of
liberty not the january 6 rally that was
called stop the steal that she attended
now the texts come at a crucial time
when trump and his allies thought they
might get to the supreme court to help
negate the election results or overturn
them the times notes that thomas
effectively toggled between like-minded
members of the executive and the
legislative branches as her husband who
sits atop the judiciary branch that is
supposed to serve as a check
on the other branches of government
heard
election related cases
end quote
i'm reading that from the new york times
because it really puts it as clearly as
possible
you're looking at a plot to also
override the independence that the
supreme court
has
in these kind of cases
some democrats are already saying
justice thomas must recuse himself from
any of these cases others including
senator blumenthal say he actually
has to come testify before the january 6
committee he hasn't of course testified
before the congress since his
confirmation hearings which were
volatile justice thomas has not exactly
rebutted concerns about his independence
here indeed he was the sole dissent in
not one but two cases that made it all
the supreme court that touched on
january 6. in other words every other
republican appointee and every
democratic appointee
went one way and he curiously went the
other way at the time the public didn't
know what they were hiding about his
wife's role here the supreme court
declined to hear a case filed by the
pennsylvania republican party involving
mail ballots and thomas wrote there was
a compelling interest in rooting out the
mere appearance of corruption
in the political process
end quote the other case involved trump
trying to hide january 6
documents from the investigation
now you may remember that one it was a
rebuke of trump
if not for thomas it would have been 9-0
8-1 is still incredibly strong it tells
you and i will just simplify here and
say as a lawyer it tells you that there
aren't a lot of real issues of law that
it's not a close call
when eight people on the court who
sometimes disagree on matters of civil
rights and democracy and voting all come
together and say no you've got to turn
this stuff over we're not having
a secret
kind of conspiracy continue where
congress can't investigate a violent
attack on the floor of congress that's
what all the trump justices said think
about that all three people appointed by
trump said no
no they're going to get to the bottom of
this the lone dissenter was thomas which
is pretty curious
because it was one month after his wife
signed this letter saying
that panel that he cited against was
overtly partisan in its political
persecution
she has not spoken out since these texts
leaked
she did say earlier this month clarence
does not discuss his work with me and i
don't involve him in my work
well among other things i have bad news
for miss thomas
if she thinks she has access to mark
meadows and other people at the white
house
because of her independent expertise
well there's literally no evidence to
suggest that her work is his work
because it's the reason she has access
to all these power players
now there's much we don't know yet
at what point does jenny thomas
completely undermine her husband's
independence
any honest judge is going to have to
recuse from cases that directly involve
their family especially if their family
is basically an hour away from other
people's crimes it's an open question
whether any of this will move justice
thomas but we also have insight into how
he feels about his wife's actions here's
one quip he previously made
i keep a sign on my desk
don't make fun of your wife's choices
you were one of them
thank you
i really appreciate that
and that's so true
it is so true they did choose each other
they chose their world views and we have
to choose whether we want to believe
that these people who are apparently so
passionate about these issues
including being the only dissent in the
case at the court
or being the only
supreme court
family member we know about who was at
the stop to steal rally
we have to choose whether we believe
that they never talk about any of this
stuff
this is a big one
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you