Wife Of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas Launches Tea Party Group

Virginia Thomas, wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, has launched Liberty Central, a Tea Party activist group. The move is raising eyebrows about the supposed impartiality of the Court.

The group plans to issue score cards for Congress members and be involved in the November election, although Thomas would not specify how. She said it would accept donations from various sources -- including corporations -- as allowed under campaign finance rules recently loosened by the Supreme Court. "I adore all the new citizen patriots who are rising up across this country," Thomas, who goes by Ginni, said on the panel at the Conservative Political Action Conference. "I have felt called to the front lines with you, with my fellow citizens, to preserve what made America great." The move by Virginia Thomas, 52, into the front lines of politics stands in marked contrast to the rarefied culture of the nation's highest court, which normally prizes the appearance of nonpartisanship and a distance from the fisticuffs of the politics of the day. Justice Thomas, 61, recently expressed sensitivity to such concerns, telling law students in Florida that he doesn't attend the State of the Union because it is "so partisan." Thomas, who was nominated by President George H.W. Bush, has been a reliable conservative vote since he joined the court in 1991.

It's almost unbelievable that the wife of a SCOTUS justice would take advantage of his recent ruling to allow corporations to campaign for elected officials. Almost. From the Liberty Central site:

LibertyCentral.org will serve the big tent of the conservative movement and assist all viable individuals and organizations with education and engagement. The site’s primary focus will be on emerging and new citizen activists – helping them discover a viable path to effective and efficient activism, along with an understanding of why their participation matters in accordance with founding principles and limited Constitutional governance. Visitors will be offered self-assessment tools directing them to profile-specific threats, opportunities, local activities, and groups they may wish to join.

The group has already been endorsed by Tea Party Patriots and former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.