Comment President Donald Trump’s lawyers saw Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas as key to overturning the results of the 2020 election, according to a series of emails released to congressional investigators. Eight emails, ordered to be released by U.S. District Judge David O. Carter of California, include correspondence between Trump’s lawyers, Kenneth Chesebro, John Eastman and others, discussing various legal strategies to persuade Republican members of Congress. to oppose the official certification of the electoral votes jointly. session of Congress on January 6, 2021. In an email from Chesebro to Eastman and several others sent on December 31, 2020, Chesebro argued that Thomas would “end up being key” to asking the high court to overturn then-President-elect Joe Biden’s victory in disputed states and that they should “frame things so that Thomas would be the one to issue some kind of stay or other circuit justice opinion saying that Georgia is within a reasonable doubt.” Thomas is the judge who oversees emergency petitions from the district court that includes Georgia. “Realistically, our only chance to get a favorable judicial opinion by January 6, which could keep the Georgia count in Congress, is from Thomas — do you agree, Prof. Eastman?” In an email sent hours later, Chesebro reiterated that he believed “the best possible way to hold a state count in Congress” would be to get a case “pending before the Supreme Court by January 5th, ideally with something positive written by a judge or justice, we hope Thomas.’ Days earlier, Chesebro on Christmas Eve morning sent an email to Eastman, Justin Clark, Bruce Marks and others and set the odds that the court would take up the question and rule at no more than 5 percent — and it does so in Trump’s favorability as of Jan. 6 at “just 1 percent.” But Chesebro said the “relevant analysis … is political” and “feeds the impression that the courts lack the courage to fairly and timely consider these complaints and justify a political argument on January 6.” Politico first reported the content of the new emails. Eastman argued that the set of disputed emails were protected by the attorney-client privilege — a fundamental principle of US legal practice that says a lawyer must keep confidential what his clients tell him and work product related to their representation. Carter cited a “criminal fraud exception” — including cases in which the communications were part of a crime — that ruled that “the emails are sufficiently related to and in furtherance of a conspiracy to defraud the United States.” Eastman was an employee of Thomas and remained in contact with his wife, Virginia “Ginni” Thomas, according to emails obtained by the House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. At least one of the messages email showed Ginny Thomas inviting Eastman to speak on December 8, 2020, to a group of conservative activists to inform about electoral disputes. Ginny Thomas lobbied Arizona and Wisconsin lawmakers via email, urging them to help overturn Biden’s victory, the Washington Post previously reported. Neither Ginny nor Clarence Thomas appear to be included in any of the newly released emails, and there is no indication in the emails that either attorney approached Clarence Thomas directly about election disputes.
