2/3rds of Supreme Court Republicans not quite ready to eliminate Congress’s oversight powers when they are applied to Republicans
Now that the midterms are over, the investigation can proceed:
The Supreme Court has cleared the way for the House’s Jan. 6 select committee to obtain the phone records of Arizona GOP Chair Kelli Ward, a key ally during Donald Trump’s effort to subvert the 2020 election.
The justices, with noted opposition from Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito, on Monday denied Ward’s emergency motion to block the panel from enforcing a subpoena against T-Mobile to obtain Ward’s records.
The panel is seeking evidence related to Ward’s coordination with Trump and his allies to assemble a slate of pro-Trump presidential electors intended to help disrupt the transfer of power on Jan. 6, 2021. Ward, who served as one of those pro-Trump electors, pleaded the Fifth when interviewed by the panel in March.
In the brief order issued late Monday morning, none of the justices offered any public rationale for their stances on the dispute, nor did the court explain why it took three weeks to dispose of the emergency application, which had been filed back Oct. 24.
Justice Elena Kagan, who oversees the 9th Circuit, which includes Arizona, had blocked the subpoena temporarily while the high court considered the issue. But the newly released order said that temporary stay had been dissolved.
Critics have called on Thomas to recuse himself from all matters related to Jan. 6 and the 2020 presidential election because of the involvement of his wife, Ginni Thomas, in efforts to advocate that Trump persist in trying to contest or dispute the election results. However, the notation in the court’s order Monday that Justice Thomas would have granted Ward’s requests suggests that the longest-serving member of the current court did not see a need to step back from the case.
You know how some youth sports coaches will go out of their way not to show favorable treatment to their children if they end up on their teams? Thomas is more the “make all of my children top-level NFL coordinators” type. Alito, meanwhile, wouldn’t be given the job because the other parents would fear that their children would end up in his freezer.