Dear MoveOn member,

In one of the most controversial decisions in U.S. history, the U.S.
Supreme Court handed George W. Bush the presidency in 2000 in Bush v.
Gore.

Now, 24 years later, the Supreme Court is poised to again play a central
role in a presidential election—this time in an election that could well
end American democracy and plunge our country into fascism.^1

And, this time, this Supreme Court cannot claim impartiality. Not even
close. After all, the wife of a Supreme Court justice was deeply involved
in the wrongdoing that will be before the court: Donald Trump's
insurrection and election interference.

With just weeks before the high court hears arguments on the Colorado
Supreme Court's decision to disqualify Trump from the ballot, we need to
do everything in our power to force Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas
to recuse himself from the Trump cases.



Will you start a $5 monthly donation to MoveOn to help us
turn the heat way up on Clarence Thomas to recuse himself from the Trump
cases and then to defeat Trump and his MAGA lapdogs across the country? 

[ [link removed] ]Yes, I'll chip in monthly.

[ [link removed] ]No, I'm sorry, I can't make a monthly donation.



Clarence Thomas's conflict of interest is as clear as day. His wife, Ginni
Thomas, played a central role in Trump's efforts to overturn the 2020
election and to obstruct its certification.^2

You'll remember that Ginni Thomas helped organize and attended the
pro-Trump rally on the National Mall on January 6, immediately prior to
the attack on the Capitol, texted frequently with Trump's chief of staff
during the period, urging him to "pursue unrelenting efforts to overturn
the 2020 presidential election," and pressured lawmakers in Arizona and
Wisconsin to override the popular vote in their states by selecting Trump
loyalists as electors.^3

The Supreme Court's new Code of Conduct—which Clarence Thomas
signed—prohibits a justice from ruling in a case in which their
"impartiality might reasonably be questioned," including when it's known
that the "Justice's spouse" has "an interest that could be substantially
affected by the outcome of the proceeding [or] is likely to be a material
witness in the proceeding."^4

The facts couldn't be more clear. But Thomas failed to recuse himself from
a procedural decision in late December in The United States of America v.
Donald Trump, in which Trump is charged with conspiring to overturn the
2020 election and obstructing the certification of the electoral vote.^5
The case is expected to return to the Supreme Court shortly. And the high
court is scheduled to hear Trump's appeal of the Colorado Supreme Court's
decision to disqualify him from the ballot on February 8.^6 So time is of
the essence.



Will you start a $5 monthly donation to help us create
public pressure for Thomas to recuse himself from the Trump cases that
could well determine the outcome of the 2024 election, and then to defeat
MAGA candidates who are attacking our democracy? 

[ [link removed] ]Yes, I'll chip in monthly.

[ [link removed] ]No, I'm sorry, I can't make a monthly donation.



Despite a long history of failing to recuse himself from cases where he
has a conflict of interest, including a litany of cases related to Trump's
2020 election subversion conspiracy, in October, Thomas recused himself
from a single case related to the January 6 insurrection involving Trump's
lawyer John Eastman, suggesting that he's starting to feel the heat.^7

Democrats in the House and Senate are increasingly calling on Thomas to
recuse himself. Representative Jamie Raskin, who helped lead Trump's
second impeachment following the deadly January 6 insurrection, told CNN
that Thomas "absolutely should recuse himself" from these Trump cases.^8

Raskin said, "Anybody looking at this in any kind of dispassionate,
reasonable way would say if your wife was involved in the big lie in
claiming that Donald Trump had actually won the presidential election, had
been agitating for that and participating in the events leading up to
January 6, that you shouldn't be participating."^9

Other Democrats in the House and Senate are beating the drums as well, but
they cannot do it alone.^10,11 That's where MoveOn comes in, with our
grassroots muscle and presence in every congressional district in the
country.



But donations to MoveOn and other progressive organizations were way down
in 2023, meaning that we need your help, John, to have the
resources to mount a massive effort to pressure Thomas to recuse himself
from the Trump cases and then to win in this November's elections. Will
you help out by starting a $5 monthly donation?

[ [link removed] ]Yes, I'll chip in monthly.

[ [link removed] ]No, I'm sorry, I can't make a monthly donation.



Thanks for all you do.

–Alexis, Kenia, Cheryl, David, and the rest of the team

Sources:

1. "Trump at the Supreme Court," The New York Times, December 27, 2023
[link removed]

2. Letter to Chief Justice John Roberts, Senator Richard Blumenthal,
December 20, 2023
[link removed]

3. Letter to Justice Clarence Thomas, Representative Hank Johnson,
December 15, 2023
[link removed]

4. "The Thomas-Trump conflict hiding in plain sight," The Hill, December
27, 2023
[link removed]

5. Ibid.

6. "Supreme Court to Hear Trump Appeal After Colorado Took Him Off Ballot
over Jan. 6," Democracy Now!, January 8, 2023
[link removed]

7. "US House Democrats press Justice Thomas to recuse from Trump cases,"
Reuters, December 18, 2023
[link removed]

8. "Clarence Thomas must recuse himself from ruling on Trump's 2024
eligibility, Raskin says," The Guardian, December 31, 2023
[link removed]

9. Ibid.

10. Letter to Chief Justice John Roberts, Senator Richard Blumenthal,
December 20, 2023
[link removed]

11. Letter to Justice Clarence Thomas, Representative Hank Johnson,
December 15, 2023
[link removed]





Want to support MoveOn's work? Access to legal abortion in every single
state in the nation is on the ballot in 2024. We need to be cleareyed: If
Trump or any other MAGA Republican is elected president, they will sign a
federal abortion ban, forcing women, girls, and trans and nonbinary people
across the country to give birth against their will. MoveOn is running a
massive, monthslong voter outreach program to ensure that key voters in
battleground states know the stakes of this election and have all of the
information that they need to cast their ballots.

Will you start a monthly gift to power and sustain MoveOn's critical work
to stop a nationwide abortion ban?





[ [link removed] ]Yes, I'll chip in $5 a month.

[ [link removed] ]No, I'm sorry, I can't make a monthly donation.





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