Democrats on the Judiciary Committee have called on Justice to recuse himself from cases involving a religious legal group after his wife reportedly thanked the conservative organization for its efforts to block Supreme Court reform. Thomas, a conservative appointed by former President in 1991, has been one of the justices at the center of calls for court reform after it was revealed that he has accepted millions of dollars in gifts from some top donors without disclosing the items and luxury vacations to the court. Questions of Thomas' impartiality were also raised after his wife, conservative activist , in favor of former President .
Investigative outlet ProPublica first last week that Ginni Thomas recently praised conservative legal group First Liberty Institute in an email to the firm's president and CEO, Kelly Shackelford, for the organization's work in opposing change to the High Court. Per the report, which included a clip of Shackelford reading Thomas' email aloud during a meeting with donors on July 31, the justice's wife wrote that she could not "adequately express enough appreciation for you guys pulling into reacting to the [President ] effort on the Supreme Court." Shackelford said that Thomas added later in the email, writing in all caps, "YOU GUYS HAVE FILLED THE SAILS OF MANY JUDGES.
CAN I JUST TELL YOU, THANK YOU SO, SO, SO MUCH." Senator , Democrat and chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, released a statement on Monday that Ginni Thomas' email to Firs.