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WASHINGTON – Virginia “Ginni” Thomas, the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, collected nearly $600,000 in anonymous donations for a conservative group, according to a report Tuesday that sheds new light on her advocacy.
The donations to Crowdsourcers for Culture and Liberty were channeled through a conservative think tank through what’s known as “fiscal sponsorship,” according to the Washington Post report. The arrangement allowed Crowdsourcers to shield its spending and fundraising activities from public view.
The revelation – the latest to heap scrutiny onto the Supreme Court – was likely to raise renewed calls for the court to adopt a code of ethics. So far, those calls have been unheeded by the justices.
It also brings renewed attention to Ginni Thomas herself and her involvement in sometimes-controversial conservative battles. She had sent dozens of text messages to former President Donald Trump’s chief of staff urging him to fight the results of the 2020 election, for example. She later told a congressional committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol that she had believed there was ”fraud and irregularity” in that election, though she couldn’t name any specific examples.
A Supreme Court spokeswoman did not respond to a request for comment. An attorney for Thomas pushed back on any suggestion of a conflict of interest.
What to know about anonymous donations to Ginni Thomas
- Thomas has been a conservative advocate for decades and is the most politically engaged spouse of any of the Supreme Court justices. That has led to questions about potential conflicts of interest with Justice Clarence Thomas when cases involving politics or conservative causes come before the nation’s highest court.
- But the details of Thomas’ efforts, including who has funded her various advocacy efforts, have long been murky. The documents reviewed by the Washington Post do not say whether the money at issue was spent, whether Thomas herself received any of it nor precisely what Thomas’ role is with the organization.
- The latest story involving Thomas is likely to renew calls for a code of ethics for Supreme Court, which is not covered by a similar code that governs lower courts.
What does Ginni Thomas say about her conservative advocacy?
Thomas has long asserted that she and her husband don’t discuss cases before the Supreme Court. And she has rejected suggestions of potential conflicts of interest.
Justice Thomas is one of the court’s most stalwart conservatives, often siding with a conservative legal principles even in cases that do not involve politics.
Mark Paoletta, an attorney for Ginni Thomas, said Tuesday that she is “proud of the work she did with Crowdsourcers, which brought together conservative leaders to discuss amplifying conservative values with respect to the battle over culture.”
Paoletta said that Thomas had complied with disclosure requirements and said that “there is no plausible conflict of interest issue with respect to Justice Thomas.”
Ginni Thomas testified before House panel investigation Jan. 6 attack on Capitol
Ginni Thomas drew scrutiny last fall from the House committee investigating the Capitol attack on Jan. 6, 2021, voluntarily testifying about her role in supporting former President Donald Trump after the 2020 election.
The committee had been eager to talk with Thomas after she sent dozens of text messages to former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows urging him to fight the results of the election. Thomas also urged state lawmakers through automated messages to reverse Trump’s election loss.
“There’s still a lot of things that are still being uncovered,” Thomas told the committee at the time. “And so I believed there was fraud and irregularity.” Pressed to cite an example of fraud that she was concerned about, Thomas told the committee she couldn’t name any specific instances.
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