After Thursday’s revelation that Ginni Thomas, the spouse of a sitting U.S. Supreme Court Justice, and a far right-wing activist in her own right, had been emailing with the author of the Trump “coup memo,” attorney John Eastman, legal experts are weighing in, with some suggesting this latest news changes the legal landscape of the case.
“Forget her marriage,” says former U.S. Attorney Harry Litman, now an LA Times legal affairs columnist.
Litman, who also teaches constitutional law, says the “correspondence between her and John Eastman” makes her look “more and more like a full fledged potential co-conspirator of her own accord.”
Ginni Thomas reportedly pressured White House chief of staff Mark Meadows to have the election overturned, pressured 29 GOP state lawmakers to submit pro-Trump electors to Congress to disenfranchise millions of Arizona voters, emailed with John Eastman, attended the “Stop the Steal” rally at the Ellipse on January 6 and was reportedly seen at the Willard Hotel on January 6 where the Trump “command center” for the mission to overthrow the election, led by Rudy Giuliani, was headquartered. She is also friends with the chief of staff of GOP Congressman Louie Gohmert, who sued to try to force Pence to throw the election to Trump, and is a member of the private “Thomas Clerk World” email listserv, comprised of past and present law clerks of her husband, Justice Clarence Thomas, and supports the far-right conspiracy theory known as QAnon.
Litman is not the only one weighing in.
“If there is anything close to equal justice under law, she will not be held immune from the consequences, including prosecution,” says Norman Ornstein, a political scientist, contributing editor for The Atlantic, and emeritus scholar at the American Enterprise Institute.
Joyce Vance, also a former U.S. Attorney, now an MSNBC/NBC News legal analyst and law professor notes that John Eastman “clerked for” Justice Clarence Thomas. “It’s always seemed entirely too coincidental that they were both pushing the fake slates of state electors plan.”
Veteran journalist Dan Rather:
Attorney Tristan Snell, who successfully prosecuted the Trump University case for the New York State Attorney General: