PrintJustice Thomas's wife scotches rumors of her husband's retirement
Ginnie Thomas, wife of Supreme Court justice Clarence Thomas, took to Facebook to shoot down rumors of her husband's retirement.
The story of a possible Thomas retirement began with a Washington Examiner article, now edited to reflect Mrs. Thomas's statement. The article author, Paul Bedard, claimed that "court watchers" believed that Thomas would leave the bench after the presidential election.
For all those contacting me about the possibility of my husband retiring, I say --- unsubscribe from those false news sources and carry on with your busy lives.”
The Examiner reported Sunday that Thomas is “mulling retirement after the presidential election.”
The report, which cited anonymous sources, said the George H. W. Bush appointee “has been considering retirement for awhile and never planned to stay until he died. “
“It is bogus,” Gini Thomas wrote in all capital letters on her post before calling out the reporter by name. “Paul Bedard needs to find a phone in his life and unnamed sources are worth as much as their transparency is.”
She called the report "disgusting click bait by desperate people who want clicks" in the comment section.
Thomas is one of the court’s most conservative members. The court has been evenly split since the court's leading conservative Justice Antonin Scalia's unexpected death in February.
Thomas has no obvious health issues, although neither did Scalia, despite his being afflicted with heart problems. Given the precarious position of conservatives on the court, why would Thomas leave? Much of what the conservative court has accomplished over the years will be in danger of being lost if the liberals get a majority.
I suspect that Bedard's sources were engaging in some wishful thinking rather than passing on hard intel. This is an occupational hazard for reporters covering one of the most secretive institutions in government.
