Virginia Thomas Launches 'Tea Party' Group

As Virginia Thomas, 52, tells it in her soft-spoken, Midwestern cadence, the story of her involvement in the “tea party” movement is the tale of an average citizen in action.

“I am an ordinary citizen from Omaha, Neb., who just may have the chance to preserve liberty along with you and other people like you,” she said at a recent panel discussion with tea party leaders in Washington. Thomas went on to count herself among those energized into action by Obama’s “hard-left agenda.”

But Thomas is no ordinary activist. Married in 1987, she is the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. Justice Thomas, 61, was nominated by President George H.W. Bush, has been a reliable conservative vote since he joined the court in 1991.

Experts say Virginia Thomas’ work doesn’t violate ethical rules for judges. Under judicial rules, judges must curb political activity, but a spouse is free to engage.

In January, Virginia Thomas created Liberty Central Inc., a nonprofit, nonpartisan, lobbying group whose website will organize activism around a set of conservative “core principles,” she said. The group plans to issue score cards for Congressional members and be involved in the November election.

“I adore all the new citizen patriots who are rising up across this country,” Thomas 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.”

Virginia Thomas has long been a passionate voice for conservative views. She has worked for former Republican Rep. Dick Armey of Texas and for the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank with strong ties to the GOP.

In fall 2008, when Thomas joined Hillsdale College as an administrator, she called the school’s Washington campus “the safest place for me to be when it comes to conflicts.” Her new endeavor could signal a return from that shelter.

Her biography notes that Thomas is a fan of Rush Limbaugh and Mark Levin, author of “Men in Black: How the Supreme Court is Destroying America.” “She is intrigued by Glenn Beck and listening carefully,” the bio says.