Ginni Thomas, the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, is cheering on efforts by a religious rights organization to oppose reforms to the nation’s highest court, according to an audio recording obtained by ProPublica.

The Thomases have been the focus of calls for reform in the wake of a April 2023 ProPublica report detailing how the couple took luxury vacations and accepted gifts from Harlan Crow, a wealthy Dallas real estate developer with a long history of generously supporting conservative causes, including being a founding member of the Club For Growth and donating millions of dollars to GOP candidates.

The report drew swift and loud criticism of the Thomases, specifically ProPublica’s suggestion that these travel expenses might run afoul of federal law, and led to calls for new ethics reforms for the Supreme Court and congressional investigations. The subsequent disclosure of real estate deals between Justice Thomas and Crow, and a June 2024 investigative report by Fix the Court calculating the millions of dollars of gifts the Thomas have received further increased the calls for reform.

Justice Thomas has denied any wrongdoing and released a statement saying that he had been “advised that this sort of personal hospitality from close personal friends, who did not have business before the Court, was not reportable,” but that he would now follow the new updated guidelines from the committee of the Judicial Conference.

This latest ProPublica report centers on the First Liberty Institute and its president and CEO, Kelly Shackelford. First Liberty is “a $25 million-a-year organization that describes itself as ‘the largest legal organization in the nation dedicated exclusively to defending religious liberty for all Americans,'” wrote ProPublica, and it has won several significant legal cases at the Supreme Court or appellate level, including representing a former high school football coach who was fired for praying on the field after games, bakery owners in Oregon who refused to make a cake for a same-sex wedding, and Navy SEALs who refused to get the Covid-19 vaccine.

Shackelford was on a call with his organization’s top donors on July 31. ProPublica obtained a recording of the call after the audio was sent to some of the organization’s supporters.

In the recording, Shackelford praised Ginni Thomas and read from an email she had sent him, calling it “an encouragement” for First Liberty’s supporters.

“I got an email today from Ginni Thomas, Justice Thomas’ wife, so I want to read that to you,” said Shackelford, adding that Kassie Dulin, First Liberty’s senior director of external affairs, had been in a meeting “earlier today with her, and [Ginni Thomas] knew we were working on this, and so she said ‘Great to meet through the meetings today. I cannot adequately express enough appreciation for you guys pulling into reacting to the Biden effort on the Supreme Court. Many were so depressed at the lack of response by R’s [Republicans] and conservatives.”

Shackelford then read a section of Ginni Thomas’s email he said was in “all caps,” saying she wrote, “YOU GUYS HAVE FILLED THE SAILS OF MANY JUDGES. CAN I JUST TELL YOU, THANK YOU SO, SO, SO MUCH.”

He compared her email to how the Navy SEALs “were so appreciative” of First Liberty’s representation, “because we were doing something for them that they couldn’t do,” as they “know how to fight but they can’t fight in court.”

“And these judges are that same thing,” Shackelford continued. “They can’t go out into the political sphere and fight, and they know they’re trying to protect the existence of the court. And so it’s neat that, you know, those of you on the call are a part of protecting the future of our court, and they really appreciate it.”

During this same phone call, Shackelford offered sharp criticism of some of the ethical reforms that have been proposed for the Supreme Court, calling them “a dangerous attempt to really destroy the court, the Supreme Court,” that was led by “people in the progressive, extreme left” who were “upset by just a few cases.” He singled out Justice Elena Kagan for supporting reforms, calling her “treasonous” and “disloyal.”

Read the ProPublica report here.

Listen to the audio clips above, via ProPublica on YouTube.

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