The Supreme Court rejected a petition Monday from former Trump lawyer John Eastman while Justice Clarence Thomas recused himself — the first time he has done so in a case involving the 45th president’s effort to nullify the 2020 presidential election that culminated in the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riots.
Eastman had asked the high court to review a lower court order that granted the now-defunct House select committee investigating the riots access to a trove of his emails.
A list released Monday detailing the Supreme Court’s order states that “Thomas did not participate in the consideration or decision of this petition.”
No explanation was given for the withdrawal, as is usual in such orders.
Last year, Eastman sought to prevent the Jan. 6 committee from forcing Chapman University, his former employer, to turn down his emails. But some lower courts opposed it.
John Eastman is one of the architects of former President Donald Trump’s strategy to reduce the 2020 election. REUTERSJohn Eastman has been charged in the Fulton County case. AP
At the time, the committee was continuing its emails to inform its investigation into efforts by Trump associates to overturn the 2020 election.
Eastman had championed the push to obtain and then capitalize on “alternate” electoral rolls by asking then-Vice President Mike Pence to effectively throw out the election results in key states.
Pence refused to do so, arguing that the action was unconstitutional. Eastman is one of 19 co-defendants charged in Georgia as a result of the scheme.
Clarence Thomas is facing increasing ethical scrutiny for the undisclosed benefits he has earned over the years.REUTERS
Eastman previously worked as a law clerk for Thomas, who has faced increasing ethics scrutiny over his acceptance of travel and other gifts from billionaire GOP donor Harlan Crow.
In August, Eastman was one of more than 100 former clerks who vouched for Thomas in an open letter that read in part: “His integrity cannot be challenged. And his independence is not shaken.”
Some of Eastman’s previously publicized emails indicate that he knew some of the information that Trump’s lawyers planned to file in a Georgia court in December 2020 was inaccurate.
The Jan 6 Committee saw John Eastman as an important person of interest. AFP via Getty ImagesJohn Eastman has maintained his innocence.AP
One of Pence’s aides has also claimed that Eastman admitted to Trump before January 6 that efforts to overturn the election were illegal.
Additionally, one of Eastman’s emails showed him speculating that Thomas would be the most amenable justice on the Supreme Court to Trump’s legal challenges.
Meanwhile, Thomas’ wife, Ginni, privately urged Trump confidants like then-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows to “unleash the Kraken” — a nod to efforts to challenge the election.
He was then handed over to be questioned before the panel on Jan 6.
The Supreme Court began a busy session Monday.REUTERS
The Supreme Court begins its 2023-24 session on Monday and is scheduled to grapple with a variety of hot-button cases ranging from gun control to the moderation of social media content.
Some lawmakers on Capitol Hill, particularly Democrats, have demanded stricter ethics requirements for judges in the wake of Thomas’ revelations.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
