Supreme Court Associate Justice Clarence Thomas has been the subject of a wave of criticism online following his dissent in a case involving former President Donald Trump.
Some social media users called on Thomas to retire or suggested he should be removed from the nation's highest court after he was the sole dissenting vote in Trump's bid to keep certain documents from the House of Representatives' Select Committee investigating the events of January 6, 2021.
The Court ruled 8-1 to uphold a lower court decision that the former president was unable to exert executive privilege in order to shield records the Select Committee has been seeking.
Yale Law School professor Scott Shapiro tweeted jokingly: "Legal claim so absurd that even Clarence Thomas wouldn't dissent Challenge."
Matt Fuller of The Daily Beast wrote: "Clarence Thomas thinks the former president can exert executive privilege over the current president, and other reasons the Supreme Court is broken."
Other Twitter users demanded Thomas' removal from the Supreme Court following the decision.
"#CLARENCETHOMAS needs to be booted off the Supreme Court," tweeted universal healthcare advocate Nathan Schneider.
Canadian historian and democratic socialist Christo Aivalis retweeted a 2013 post written by actor Danny DeVito about the late Justice Antonin Scalia and paraphrased it, writing: "Clarence Thomas retire bitch."
Ron Waxman, a New York-based soccer agent, tweeted: "Clarence Thomas should be impeached."
Thomas is the longest serving member of the Court and the most senior justice among the conservatives, with the exception of Chief Justice John Roberts. A written dissenting opinion was not published.
Florida-based lawyer Daniel Uhlfelder, who is leading an effort to remove Governor Ron DeSantis from office, tweeted: "Justice Clarence Thomas really doesn't want to the January 6th committee to see those documents."
Norm Ornstein, a contributing editor for The Atlantic, said that Thomas should have recused (disqualified) himself and cited the justice's wife, Ginni Thomas, who recently signed an open letter critical of the two Republican members of the House Select Committee, Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger.
"The fact that Clarence Thomas continues to fail to recuse himself, given the activities of his wife that are directly related to the insurrection, is mind-boggling," Ornstein tweeted.
Journalist Noah Berlatsky also made reference to Ginni Thomas, writing: "tbf, Clarence Thomas virtually always embraces partisan hackery, whether or not a case involves his wife."
Ginni Thomas' past social media posts about the January 6 "Stop the Steal" rally have been the subject of criticism. Despite claims to the contrary, there is no evidence she was involved in planning the rally.
The Supreme Court's decision effectively brings to an end Trump's assertion of executive privilege over documents the House Select Committee is seeking. All three justices appointed by Trump also ruled against him.
