The U.S. Supreme Court Friday announced Justice Clarence Thomas has been released from a Washington hospital where the court said he was being treated for flu-like systems for the past week.
In a statement Sunday, the court said the 73-year-old Thomas had been admitted to Washington’s Sibley Hospital, where he underwent tests, was diagnosed with an infection, and was treated with intravenous antibiotics. The statement said the infection was not COVID-19 but gave no other details.
Thomas’ release comes as his wife, conservative activist Virginia “Ginni” Thomas, finds herself mired in controversy regarding the 2020 U.S. presidential election and former U.S. president Donald Trump.
Late Thursday The Washington Post and CBS News released weeks of text messages from 2020 that were reportedly sent from Virginia Thomas to then Trump White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, urging him to work to overturn the results of the 2020 election.
The series of texts - 29 in all – were sent beginning November 10, 2020, three days after the election.
Among the messages Virginia Thomas texted to Meadows was one that read, “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 messages were among more than 2,300 Meadows provided to the U.S. House of Representatives select committee that is investigating the January 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
The Washington Post report says that, while the messages do not directly reference Justice Thomas or the Supreme Court, they reveal how Virginia Thomas used her access to Trump’s inner circle to promote the president’s strategy to overturn the election results — and how receptive Meadows was to her efforts.
Meadows’s attorney, George Terwilliger III, said he nor the former White House chief of staff would comment on the texts, but added “nothing about the text messages presents any legal issues.” Virginia Thomas did not respond to media requests for comment.
Some information for this report was provided by the Associated Press, and Reuters.
