Proposed guidelines for the Supreme Court to adopt a new "model" ethics code would put in place "more stringent guidelines for recusal" and could put the spotlight on Justice Clarence Thomas and his wife, Ginni Thomas, the Washington Examiner reported on Monday.
If those guidelines were in effect last year, it might have prevented Clarence Thomas from taking part in a case concerning the release of Trump administration records to the House committee probing the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, according to a recent NPR report.
Thomas was the only dissenter when the remainder of the court refused former President Donald Trump's attempt to block those records from disclosure, according to the Washington Examiner. The records later revealed that Ginni Thomas was in contact with top Trump White House officials and showed her urging them to block certification of the 2020 election results that finalized President Joe Biden's victory.
Under the code, which was proposed by so-called independent government watchdogs Project on Government Oversight and Lawyers Defending American Democracy, justices and their close family members would be barred from "exploiting the judicial position" and "engaging in political" activity that presents the appearance of partisanship.
"This is putting the fox in charge of the hen house," Carrie Severino, a former law clerk to Thomas and president of the conservative judicial watchdog JCN, told the Washington Examiner. Severino denounced POGO as one of many "left-wing dark money groups" trying to enforce stricter ethics on the justices.
Severino added that the goal of groups such as POGO is to "force ethically unnecessary recusals of the justices, because" they are not happy with the current composition of the Supreme Court, which has a 6-3 Republican-appointed majority.
Brian Freeman ✉
Brian Freeman, a Newsmax writer based in Israel, has more than three decades writing and editing about culture and politics for newspapers, online and television.
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