Dear MoveOn member,
On April 25—just two weeks from now—the Supreme Court will hear a case
that could determine whether Donald Trump can be held accountable for his
crimes.^1
As Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan said during recent oral arguments in
another Trump case, it is a "fundamental precept of our constitutional
order that a president isn't above the law."^2
It is one of our nation's long-held and most respected principles that no
one is above the law. But given our highly partisan Supreme Court, this
particular case could overturn this bedrock principle for Trump and all
future presidents.
That's because this Supreme Court's rulings become important legal
precedent. It means other courts will make decisions in cases with similar
issues based on how the Supreme Court has ruled. And precedents can last
decades—or even hundreds of years.
If the Supreme Court issues a decision declaring that Trump is immune from
prosecution, it will put the American people at risk for future dictators,
authoritarians, and strongman presidents.
The checks and balances that keep America strong include a president's
credible fear that they are not immune from prosecution for all acts, no
matter how criminal, especially acts in their personal capacity, for their
own benefit.
But now, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, who is directly connected
to the Trump case, is poised to help determine how it is decided.
Thomas must recuse himself—according to longstanding judicial ethics and
the Supreme Court's new code of ethics, which demands recusal in cases
where a justice's impartiality might be reasonably questioned.^3
MoveOn is planning to take over the front page of The Washington Post with
hard-hitting ads calling on Thomas to recuse himself—if we can raise
$75,000.
Will you start a $5 monthly donation to help MoveOn take
over the front page of The Washington Post and then help us keep the
pressure on until Thomas recuses himself from all cases involving Trump
and the insurrection?
[ [link removed] ]Yes, I'll chip in monthly.
[ [link removed] ]No, I'm sorry, I can't make a monthly donation.
We can't afford to cut back on our 2024 election work to pay for this
hard-hitting homepage takeover, so it's crucial that we raise the funds
from MoveOn members.
With your help, we will make it loud and clear in these ads that Thomas
must recuse himself.
We know that under the right circumstances, public pressure works. In
October, Thomas stepped aside from a case involving his former clerk, John
Eastman.^4 Eastman had corresponded with Thomas's wife, Ginni Thomas,
about the "stop the steal" efforts to falsely claim that the 2020 election
was stolen, and he had advocated a fringe legal theory that Vice President
Mike Pence could block the certification of President Biden's Electoral
College win.^5
Now, we face a situation with even higher stakes. And it's imperative that
Thomas step aside again. But with the Trump case being heard just two
weeks from now, we can only up the pressure on Thomas with a hard-hitting
front-page takeover in The Washington Post, calling on him to recuse
himself, if we raise $75,000 in the next week.
Will you start a $5 monthly donation to power MoveOn's
urgent campaign to pressure Thomas to recuse himself from Trump's Supreme
Court criminal case and to keep the pressure on until Thomas recuses
himself from all cases involving Trump and the insurrection?
[ [link removed] ]Yes, I'll chip in monthly.
[ [link removed] ]No, I'm sorry, I can't make a monthly donation.
It's crucial that we take action in moments like this. It may seem like
long odds that we can get Thomas to recuse himself from this case, but we
have to try. He may, if we pressure him hard enough. After all, we saw him
do it before.
And demanding his recusal in this powerful, public way has other benefits.
It puts pressure on other justices, including Chief Justice John Roberts,
to make decisions that protect America's democratic institutions—not pave
the way for dictators.
The truth is that Supreme Court justices are sensitive to public pressure,
and high-profile efforts focused on a specific justice are noticed by
other justices. This campaign is a critical part of the broader fight.
America's guiding principles and the future of our democracy are at stake
if Thomas doesn't recuse himself. Will you start a $5
monthly donation so MoveOn can launch our time-sensitive Washington Post
front-page takeover campaign and then keep up the work to hold Thomas
accountable for his corruption?
[ [link removed] ]Yes, I'll chip in monthly.
[ [link removed] ]No, I'm sorry, I can't make a monthly donation.
Two years ago, MoveOn launched a historic and unprecedented campaign to
impeach Thomas, which included a full-page ad in The Wall Street Journal.
We gathered 1.3 million signatures to our petition demanding his
impeachment. We were able to launch that campaign and run the ad because
of grassroots MoveOn-member support.
And now, in this critical moment, we're asking MoveOn members to pitch in
again and fuel our campaign to hold Thomas accountable on the front page
of The Washington Post and then keep up this critical, democracy-saving
work.
Will you start a monthly $5 donation today?
[ [link removed] ]Yes, I'll chip in monthly.
[ [link removed] ]No, I'm sorry, I can't make a monthly donation.
We absolutely cannot afford to cut our election program to run these ads.
But these ads are critically necessary. That's why we need your help to
meet our $75,000 goal this week and then power the campaign for as long as
it takes.
Thanks for all you do.
–Mohammad, Erik, Alexis, Kelsey, and the rest of the team
Sources:
1. "Clarence Thomas's conflict is clear — he must recuse himself from the
Trump immunity case," The Hill, March 4, 2024
[link removed]
2. "Justice Kagan Says 'President Isn't Above The Law' as Trump, New York
Prosecutors Battle Over Tax Returns," Newsweek, May 12, 2020
[link removed]
3. "Clarence Thomas Faces Calls to Recuse Himself From Jan. 6 Trump
Cases," Yahoo! News, December 21, 2023
[link removed]
4. "Clarence Thomas recuses himself as Supreme Court rejects ex-Trump
lawyer John Eastman's appeal," NBC News, October 2, 2024
[link removed]
5. "Virginia Thomas urged White House chief to pursue unrelenting efforts
to overturn the 2020 election, texts show," The Washington Post, March 24,
2022
[link removed]
Want to support MoveOn's work? The MAGA movement's book bans have forced
teachers and librarians across the country to remove books from their
shelves and censor what young people can learn. MoveOn is fighting back,
including by filling a "Banned Bookmobile" with books that the far right
has banned and driving it to key cities and towns to raise the visibility
of book bans, hand out banned books for free, and bring people together to
stop censorship. To keep up the fight against book bans and the MAGA
politicians who support them, we need your help.
Will you start a monthly gift to power and sustain MoveOn's critical
work?
[ [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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