Judging Freedom - Ginni Thomas will speak with Jan 6 panel

Episode Date: September 22, 2022

Ginni Thomas WILL speak with January 6 panel: Wife of conservative Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas reached a deal to be interviewed by the committee in coming weeks https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11237165/Wife-Supreme-Court-Justice-Clarence-Thomas-reached-deal-interviewed-Jan-6-panel.html #jan6th #SCOTUSSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Resolve to earn your degree in the new year in the Bay with WGU. WGU is an online accredited university that specializes in personalized learning. With courses available 24-7 and monthly start dates, you can earn your degree on your schedule. You may even be able to graduate sooner than you think by demonstrating mastery of the material you know. Make 2025 the year you focus on your future. Learn more at wgu.edu. Hi, everyone. Judge Andrew Napolitano here for Judging Freedom. Today is Thursday, September 22nd, 2022. It's about 1125 in the morning here in the East Coast of the United States.

Lawyers for Virginia, Ginny Thomas, the wife of Justice Clarence Thomas, and lawyers for the House Select Committee on January 6th have jointly announced that Mrs. Thomas has agreed to give an interview to the committee. Normally, this wouldn't be a big deal, but given to whom she's married, it is a big deal. In fairness and in full disclosure, her husband has been a friend of mine for many years, Justice Clarence Thomas, and I have met Mrs. Thomas socially on a couple of occasions. So I just want you to know about that before I comment on it. The reason this is a big deal is because this issue of January 6th and the prosecution of people for whatever happened on January 6th may reach the Supreme Court of the United States, there is no ethical requirement

that a justice of the Supreme Court of the United States recuse himself or herself in the case of a conflict. So Justice Thomas could sit in judgment of the behavior of his own wife. I know that sounds absurd. That is not the case for all the other 1,500 federal jurists in the country. It only applies to the Supreme Court. There is no ethical rule requiring them to recuse themselves from a case. That's the nine of them. And there's no provision for the other eight to force the one who has the apparent conflict off. So whatever Mrs. Thomas says to the committee and whatever her involvement has been, if it reaches the Supreme Court, she can certainly count on one vote. That is patently unfair, but that's the law.

The law is not always just. The law is not always logic. The law is often just based on history. What are they going to ask her about? Well, apparently they have unearthed emails in which she has encouraged people to participate in schemes to submit phony electors, that is, people who are not truly electors chosen by the public. We know that there was an effort in Arizona, which went for Joe Biden by about 11,000 votes, to send a slate of electors pledged to Donald Trump to the Electoral College, and we know that that scheme was unlawful and probably criminal. We know that there were

efforts to do the same thing with respect to Georgia. If Mrs. Thomas were involved in that, depending upon the extent of her involvement, I mean, she may have a First Amendment defense. Yeah, she was cheering them on. She can do that. But if she actively participated in a conspiracy, then the First Amendment defense falls. So I don't know where this is going to go. Judging freedom is not covered extensively the January 6th hearings. In my opinion, it was an effort to interfere with the orderly changing of power in the government, but only by a few. I think the vast majority of people that were there got caught up in the violence, went there to express political opinions, which were protected by the First Amendment. But the violence was not protected by the First Amendment, and the efforts to interfere, which succeeded for just a few hours, were certainly not protected by the First Amendment. What phases of this, if any, Mrs. Thomas was involved in, time and perhaps her testimony will tell. Judge Napolitano for Judging Freedom.

Resolve to earn your degree in the new year in the Bay with WGU. With courses available online 24-7 and monthly start dates, WGU offers maximum flexibility so you can focus on your future. Learn more at wgu.edu.