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Ginni Thomas is once again at the center of controversy and accusations of conflict of interest after an analysis of the 74 amicus briefs filed with the U.S. Supreme Court aimed at overturning Roe v Wade found she was linked to just over half of the legal entreaties to end a woman’s right to choose.
“A new analysis of the written legal arguments, or ‘amicus briefs,’ used to lobby the justices as they deliberated over abortion underlines the extent to which Clarence Thomas’s wife was intertwined with this vast pressure campaign,” The Guardian reports. “The survey found that 51% of the parties who filed amicus briefs calling for an end to a federal abortion right have political connections to Ginni Thomas, raising concerns about a possible conflict of interest at the highest levels of the US judiciary.”
Were Thomas merely a far-right-wing lobbyist her efforts could be called quite a success, especially given the Supreme Court’s 6-3 decision overturning the five-decade-old precedent by ramming a stake through stare decisis – something that rarely happens – but as the spouse of one of the justices leading the cry to overturn that ruling and others based on the same principles, like the right of same-sex couples to marry, it is drawing concerns.
The Atlantic’s Molly Jong-Fast, responding to The Guardian’s report, asks, “Isn’t this a conflict of interest?”
READ MORE: Ginni Thomas Attempts to Influence Overturn of Election Even Wider Than Previously Known
The Guardian reports the “analysis of the amicus briefs was carried out by Advance Democracy Inc, a non-partisan organization specializing in public-interest research and investigations.”
It “shows that 38 of the 74 anti-abortion amicus briefs – 51% – were produced by entities and individuals with links to Ginni Thomas. They included rightwing groups, religious interests, prominent conservative individuals and lawyers.”
That analysis also shows “an intricate web of connections between many of the most influential groups and figures on the conservative hard right, with Ginni Thomas at the centre of it. Several of the links run through her consultancy, Liberty Consulting, which she set up in 2010 and which brags that it can ‘give access to any door in Washington.’”
READ MORE: Liz Cheney Serves Notice to Ginni Thomas That the Jan 6th Committee Is Prepared to Subpoena Her
The Guardian does not state if Thomas received any compensation, financial or otherwise, for her efforts, but if she did, that could lead to even greater calls of conflict of interest.
“Many of the interests to which Ginni Thomas was connected who filed anti-abortion amicus briefs have a parallel track record of anti-LGBT agitating. The founder of CNP, Tim LaHaye, was an evangelical Christian minister and a virulent homophobe,” The Guardian also notes. “His 1978 book The Unhappy Gays depicted gay people as ‘militant, organized’ and ‘vile’. ‘Homosexuality is a blight on humanity,’ he wrote. ‘Many parents would prefer the death of their child to his adopting the unhappy wretchedness of homosexuality.’”
Thomas’ actions related to the January 6 insurrection and her calls to overturn the free and fair 2020 presidential election are also being examined. She engaged in a months-long text message exchange with then-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, urging him to somehow keep Donald Trump in the White House. She also corresponded with “coup memo” author John Eastman, who serves as the chair of the anti-LGBTQ National Organization For Marriage, and engaged in campaigns in at least two battleground states, emailing lawmakers urging them to help overturn the election results.
As The Guardian notes, Thomas also sits on the board of a highly-secretive and powerful religious right organization, the Council for National Policy (CNP).
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