The obligation to remain silent

You don’t have to hear “Hear ye, hear ye, the Court is now in session” to know you are in a special place. From the moment your foot hits the floor in the lobby of the Supreme Court building, your pace slows, your voice softens, and you pause to just look around and absorb history. It is not elegant, but it is awesome. Whether you like every decision or not (and most of us don’t), it is democracy at its best.

The place demands respect and Americans, regardless of political party, have given it. Would that Ginni Thomas, wife of the longest serving justice on the present court, understood that whatever she does reflects not only on her and her husband, but on a sacred institution

The spouse of a Supreme Court justice has the right to a career of his or her own. We all accept that. A spouse isn’t struck dumb or put to bed rest as the new justice is sworn in. The marriage remains a marriage. No one monitors conversation at home. But in public or even private conversation or email, there must be limits. Talk of issues likely to come before the court is out of bounds if the spouse is more than a distant observer like the rest of us.

Over the dinner table, as they crawl into bed, on their way to church, couples do talk. That is unavoidable and OK. But when they do talk outside the family, we can expect them to be circumspect, not speak to issues or cases that might end up at the court. We don’t expect a spouse to stay in the kitchen in an apron, standing by to fix Tater Tots as a snack for the justice. We don’t expect a spouse to stay out in the garage sorting and resorting recyclables or polishing the car. Spouses have careers where they, as all of us, naturally will talk to colleagues about current events. But married to the bench means knowing when to shut up and keep your distance.

Ginni Thomas, wife of Clarence Thomas, didn’t. According to a news report, she wrote to Mark Meadows, chief of staff in the Trump White House, shortly after the 2020 election. Her message: “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.”

The Washington Post reported, “Those communications were only obtained by the committee after the Supreme Court ordered them to be transferred to Congress, rejecting claims by Trump that they were covered by executive privilege. The court forced disclosure of the material, including the Ginni Thomas texts, by a vote of 8 to 1 — with Clarence Thomas providing the only dissent.”

If Justice Thomas knew his wife had emailed Meadows, when he voted no on disclosure, it comes at a most generous description, as collusion. Their conversation may not be a crime, but it is more than unseemly. Justice Thomas, an embarrassment to the conservative Roberts court, should resign in a fitting end to his long career.

Norman Sherman of Coralville has worked extensively in politics, including as Vice President Hubert Humphrey’s press secretary, and authored a memoir “From Nowhere to Somewhere.”