Rick Scott sees no point in Clarence Thomas recusal from Jan. 6 cases
Image via AP.

Image: Rick Scott
Mrs. Thomas' texts to Trump Chief of Staff present no problem for Florida Senator.

Texts and emails between the wife of a Supreme Court Justice and Donald Trump‘s former chief of staff about the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol don’t concern Sen. Rick Scott much at all.

Scott, asked about whether Justice Clarence Thomas should recuse himself from future cases about the violent protests targeting Congress as it certified the 2020 Presidential Election, discounted a potential conflict of interest for the Justice involving his wife, who workshopped strategies to overturn that election with Mark Meadows, along other Republican politicians and activists.

Instead, Scott suggested on Fox News Sunday that Justice Thomas’ fairness was enough to put him at ease.

“Well, first off, I admire and respect Clarence Thomas. I think he’s been a great Supreme Court Justice. And Clarence Thomas in my opinion will always do the right thing. So, I’ve not seen in my — I’ve watched Clarence Thomas for years and I’ve always seen him do the right thing,” Scott said.

Scott went on to compliment the Justices generally, saying that his “experience with the Supreme Court is that they’re trying their best to interpret the laws and do the best they can.”

“I don’t agree with everything they do. None of us would, but I think they’re trying to do the best they can,” Scott affirmed.

The Senator’s faith in the Supreme Court as an institution and Justice Thomas specifically likely will be tested if the Justice has to review matters involving some of the incendiary texts his wife sent out under the presumption that the 2020 Presidential Election could be overturned.

“Help This Great President stand firm, Mark!!! … You are the leader, with him, who is standing for America’s constitutional governance at the precipice. The majority knows Biden and the Left is attempting the greatest Heist of our History,” Mrs. Thomas texted Meadows on Nov. 10.

One text, meanwhile, came after the riot.

“We are living through what feels like the end of America,” Thomas wrote to Meadows on Jan. 10.

___

The Associated Press contributed reporting.

A.G. Gancarski

A.G. Gancarski has been the Northeast Florida correspondent for Florida Politics since 2014. He writes for the New York Post and National Review also, with previous work in the American Conservative and Washington Times and a 15+ year run as a columnist in Folio Weekly. He can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter: @AGGancarski


5 comments

  • Michael

    March 27, 2022 at 1:48 pm

    Well Rick Scott is a liar, and frankly, a freak. So who cares what he says about anything at all?

  • PeterH

    March 27, 2022 at 5:03 pm

    This is John Roberts quagmire. He champions judicial independence, fairness and stability. Roberts can and should ask for Thomas’s resignation. Unfortunately he can not force the issue.

    Roberts ability to lead this court is diminished and the American people have lost faith in our politics and judiciary.

    Elections have consequences and we’re witnessing yet another deterioration of our Democracy.

  • tom palmer

    March 27, 2022 at 5:59 pm

    Clarence Thomas, a serial sexual harasser and porn addict, probably should never have been confirmed in the first place, but it’s good to Rick Scott’s ethics are unsurprisingly as lacking as Clarence Thomas,

  • John McCarthy

    March 28, 2022 at 1:38 am

    I’m

  • John McCarthy

    March 28, 2022 at 1:47 am

    Where did Rick Scott crawl out of? First who care how he feels about Justice Thomas the way it should be done to avoid any issues is do it above.board and be no input on his wife’s matter. It’s a shame that Mr.Scott is so out of touch with reasonable people that use their brain. It is unreal that he talks about saving the United States but he is a Trump follower, a twice impeached president who committed a coup on the U.S. government and should have seen to stand trial. You Mr.Scott are also a coward and a person that I wish to never become.

Comments are closed.


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