Ginni Thomas, wife of Supreme Court justice, urged Wisconsin GOP legislators to pick presidential electors

Ginni Thomas, a conservative activist and wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, emailed at least two Wisconsin lawmakers urging them to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election in the state.

The Washington Post reported Thursday that Thomas sent identical emails to Senate Elections Committee chairperson Kathy Bernier, R-Chippewa Falls, and to Rep. Gary Tauchen, R-Bonduel. The emails have the subject line “Please do your Constitutional duty!”

Thomas, in the email sent on Nov. 9, urges the Republican lawmakers to directly choose the state’s electors. “The responsibility is yours and yours alone,” the email states. “It doesn’t rest with any Board of Electors, Secretary of State, Governor or even the court.”

She also asks the lawmakers to meet with her in person “so I can learn more about what you are doing to ensure our state’s vote count is audited and our certification clean.”

Bernier confirmed to a Wisconsin Public Radio reporter that she received the email. She said it appeared to be a mass email and said she did not act on it.

She told the Washington Post she did not realize the email she received — one of thousands in the aftermath of the election — was from the wife of a Supreme Court justice. She said Thomas has the First Amendment Right to speak her mind.

After former President Donald Trump lost to President Joe Biden in Wisconsin, Trump falsely claimed that the state’s election was stolen. A series of lawsuits and recounts followed, and a group of Republicans posing as presidential electors met in Madison to cast false electoral votes on the same day Democratic electors met to cast the real electoral ballots for Biden.

Wisconsin Republican Party Chair Andrew Hitt told the Congressional committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection that he and the others in the Republican group that met in Madison that day were “simply following the guidance of Wisconsin legal counsel” as Trump campaign lawsuits attempted to convince Wisconsin judges to overturn the election results.

Recounts and investigators have found no indication of widespread fraud. Biden won the state by about 21,000 votes.

Bernier has been critical of fellow Republicans who have promoted the idea that the election was stolen. She is not seeking reelection this fall.

Thomas’ involvement in efforts to overturn the results of the presidential election have led to questions about Justice Thomas’ impartiality on cases involving the Trump administration. A poll by Politico/Morning Consult in June found the majority of those polled wanted Justice Thomas to recuse himself from any cases related to the 2020 election.