Much ink has been spilled documenting Justice Clarence Thomas’s ethical improprieties and the damage they do to the standing of the court on which he sits. But the Supreme Court’s decision to hear Donald Trump’s immunity case adds new urgency to an already troubling situation: Thomas has a clear conflict of interest in the case and needs to recuse himself now.

Calls for him to do so already have come from people like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cotez (D-N.Y.), Sen. Richard Durbin (D-Ill.), Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) and groups like Stand Up America, a democracy advocacy group. On Feb. 28, Stand up America simply tweeted, “Clarence Thomas must recuse himself from this case.”

Rep. Ocasio-Cortez had previously pointed out that the decision in the immunity case would “directly implicate his wife so this is one of the most classic, textbook conflicts of interest.”

Sen. Durbin, who chairs the Senate judiciary committee, said that “There are so many unanswered questions about the relationship of the justice and his family with the Trump administration that I think in the interests of justice, he should recuse himself.”

Sen. Whitehouse went into more detail about Thomas’s situation during a recent appearance on MSNBC. Whitehouse explained that if the Supreme Court were to find that the former president is immune from prosecution, it would end Jack Smith’s case and, in so doing, insulate Thomas’s wife, Ginni Thomas, from scrutiny about her role in Trump’s election interference efforts.

“There is,” Whitehouse argued, “a very direct conflict of interest. If he can help get rid of the case, he can protect his wife from the scrutiny of having her actions be evidence for the prosecution.”

But beyond these usual suspects, others are now joining in the effort to convince Thomas to step aside in the immunity case.........

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