SUPREME PROBLEM?
Leaked Emails Show Justice Clarence Thomas’s Wife Pushing Travel Ban
In leaked emails, Ginni Thomas asked for advice on how to organize in favor of Trump’s travel ban. But by doing so, she may have inadvertently made it harder for the executive order to survive the Supreme Court.
Betsy Woodruff
02.16.17 1:15 AM ET
Justice Clarence Thomas’s wife is organizing in support of President Donald Trump’s agenda. And it might make her husband’s life a little complicated.
In an email sent to a conservative listserv on Feb. 13 and obtained by The Daily Beast, Ginni Thomas asked an interesting question: How could she organize activists to push for Trump’s policies?
“What is the best way to, with minimal costs, set up a daily text capacity for a ground up-grassroots army for pro-Trump daily action items to push back against the left’s resistance efforts who are trying to make America ungovernable?” she wrote.
“I see the left has Daily Action @YourDailyAction and their Facebook likes are up to 61K,” she continued.
She then linked to a Washington Post story about the group.
“But there are some grassroots activists, who seem beyond the Republican party or the conservative movement, who wish to join the fray on social media for Trump and link shields and build momentum,” she wrote. “I met with a house load of them yesterday and we want a daily textable tool to start… Suggestions?”
Neither Ginni nor Clarence Thomas returned requests for comment. The group she referred to, Daily Action, encourages people who oppose Trump’s agenda to make a phone call every day on relevant issues—including the travel ban. Thomas, on the other hand, has characterized former acting Attorney General Sally Yates as part of a “subversive alt-government” trying to undermine the president and make America “ungovernable” in a recent Daily Caller article. Yates drew ire from the right when she refused to have DOJ lawyers defend the president’s travel ban.
And that travel ban could end up before the Supreme Court. Last week, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco ruled against Trump’s travel ban. And a federal judge in Virginia on Monday issued a preliminary injunction against the ban, blocking its enforcement in the Commonwealth.
It isn’t clear yet if the Justice Department lawyers defending Trump’s ban will appeal the 9th Circuit ruling to the Supreme Court. But if that happens, then Thomas’s activism could be an issue, according to legal experts.
More:
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2017/02/16/leaked-emails-show-justice-clarence-thomas-s-wife-pushing-travel-ban.html?via=newsletter&source=DDMorning
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