Democrat Rep. Jamie Raskin has said SCOTUS Judge Clarence Thomas should recuse himself from voting for Donald Trump because of his wife's ties to the Jan. 6 insurrection.
The congressman's comment came during a CNN interview, when host Dana Bash asked him whether Thomas or any of the former president's appointed judges should recuse themselves from ruling on his cases in Maine and Colorado.
Some conservative commentators have criticized Raskin and the network for making the claims, saying the exchange was evidence that “the Democrats want to destroy the Supreme Court.”
Republicans are pursuing an appeal to the Supreme Court over Colorado's removal of Trump from the primary.
The Centennial State was the first to apply a rarely used constitutional ban on those “engaged in insurrection” to prevent people in the state from voting for the former president in 2024.
Democrat Rep. Jamie Raskin told CNN's Dana Bash that SCOTUS Judge Clarence Thomas should recuse himself from voting for Donald Trump because of his wife's ties to the January 6 insurrection
Judge Clarence Thomas, seen in his official portrait in 2022, should be relieved of future rulings related to Trump's removal from the ballot in Colorado and Maine, according to Democrat Congressman Jamie Raskin
Republicans are pursuing an appeal to the Supreme Court over Trump's removal from the Colorado primary
It was followed by Maine, which governed under the same provision. The SCOTUS judges have yet to announce whether they will hear the Republicans' appeal.
During CNN's State of the Union program on New Year's Eve, host Bash asked senior House Oversight Democrat Raskin about the case and whether Thomas, 75, or the Trump-appointed judges should recuse themselves on ethical grounds.
“Three of the sitting justices were appointed by Donald Trump,” Bash said, referring to Amy Coney Barrett, Brett Kavanaugh and Neil Gorsuch.
“And in addition, Judge Clarence Thomas' wife, Ginni, was texting with Mark Meadows about the 2020 election leading up to January 6, as you well know,” she said. “Should any of the judges recuse themselves if they bring this up?”
Raskin, who represents Maryland, pushed back on whether the three Trump appointees would be too biased to pass judgment on the former president, but said Thomas should “absolutely” recuse himself.
“I think anyone who looks at this in any kind of level-headed, reasonable way would say, if your wife was involved in the 'Big Lie' and claimed that Donald Trump actually won the presidential election and agitated for it and contributed to the events had participated in the run-up to January 6, that you should not participate in (the statements),” he said.
When asked directly if Thomas should recuse himself, Raskin said, “He absolutely should recuse himself. The question is: what should we do if he doesn't back down?'
When the clip circulated online, it was greeted with a tirade of angry comments from conservative critics.
Raskin, who represents Maryland, pushed back on whether the three Trump appointees would be too biased to rule on the former president, but said Thomas should “absolutely” recuse himself.
Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas (left) and his wife Ginni (right) leave Justice Sandra Day O'Connor's funeral service in Washington earlier this year
“I think CNN should stop commenting on anything and everything,” one man thundered.
'Your prejudices seep out of your pores. The number of times you have lied to the American people makes you absolutely irrelevant.”
Another person wrote, “There is no need for Thomas to recuse himself as no liberal justice has done the same when ruling on something that affected Democrats.
“Raskin is afraid that Trump will win. The court is protected by the Constitution.”
However, other viewers agreed that Thomas should withdraw due to his wife's involvement in the case, with one person claiming that the current Supreme Court line-up “is the most compromised ever.”
Ginni Thomas, 66, was questioned late last year by the Jan. 6 committee about a series of texts and emails between her and then-President Trump's election lawyer John Eastman and his chief of staff Mark Meadows.
In text messages to Meadows, Thomas urged him to continue the fight to overturn the 2020 result.
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and his wife Ginni Thomas
“Help this great president stand firm, Mark!!!…You are the leader with him who stands for America's constitutional government on the brink of collapse. The majority knows that Biden and the left are committing the greatest robbery in our history.'
“I regret all of these texts,” Thomas volunteered to the panel during a closed-door statement on Capitol Hill on September 29.
In her testimonyshe expressed embarrassment over private text messages being made public, but concerned about allegations of discrepancies between constituents while texting with then-White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows.
“It was an emotional time and people were worried that there had been so much fraud that they wouldn't get to the bottom of it,” Thomas said.