Conservative activist Ginni Thomas, the spouse of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, reportedly pressured several Wisconsin lawmakers to change the 2020 election results in the state, according to emails obtained by both The Washington Post and CBS News.
Ginni Thomas reportedly reached out to the chair of the Wisconsin Senate Elections Committee, state Sen. Kathy Bernier (R), and state Rep. Gary Tauchen (R). In emails sent to both lawmakers through the FreeRoots platform on Nov. 9, 2020, she said, “Please stand strong in the face of media and political pressure,” according to the Post, which obtained both emails through a public records request.
The Post obtained Thomas’s email to Tauchen from the Documented watchdog group.
“Please reflect on the awesome authority granted to you by our Constitution. And then please take action to ensure that a clean slate of Electors is chosen for our state,” Thomas reportedly told them.
The reporting comes several months after separate reporting showed that Thomas had reached out to nearly 30 Arizona state lawmakers to also press them to overturn the 2020 election results in the state, which Biden won as well. Thomas has not been formally subpoenaed by the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot, but members are considering doing so.
A Supreme Court spokesperson, Thomas and Thomas’s lawyer did not return requests for comment from the Post. Neither did Tauchen.
Bernier defended Thomas, telling the newspaper that the conservative activist “has a First Amendment right to speak her mind,” while also acknowledging she did not know the Supreme Court justice’s wife had emailed her following the last election.
Had voter fraud been found, Bernier told the Post they could have taken steps to decertify the election but said that no evidence of wrongdoing was ultimately found following the legal challenges.
The Hill has reached out to Thomas, her lawyer, a spokesperson for the Supreme Court and both Wisconsin state lawmakers for comment.