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For Immediate Release
September, 01 2022, 12:42pm EDT
Contact:
Monica Garcia, press@standupamerica.
Congress Must Pass SCOTUS Code of Ethics in Light of Revelations That Ginni Thomas Pushed Wisconsin Lawmakers to Overturn 2020 Election
Christina Harvey, Executive Director of Stand Up America, issued the following statement in response to reports that Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas' wife, Ginni Thomas, urged Wisconsin lawmakers to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election. It was previously reported that she pressed lawmakers in Arizona to interfere with that state's certification process.
WASHINGTON
Christina Harvey, Executive Director of Stand Up America, issued the following statement in response to reports that Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas' wife, Ginni Thomas, urged Wisconsin lawmakers to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election. It was previously reported that she pressed lawmakers in Arizona to interfere with that state's certification process.
"Justice Thomas swore an oath to 'faithfully and impartially' administer justice. His wife's seditious pressure campaign to overturn the 2020 election makes that impossible.
"If Clarence Thomas had any shame, he would resign immediately. But he doesn't, so Congress must act immediately to pass a code of ethics for the Supreme Court that would require justices to recuse themselves in cases where they have an actual or apparent conflict of interest."
Stand Up America is a progressive advocacy organization with over two million community members across the country. Focused on grassroots advocacy to strengthen our democracy and oppose Trump's corrupt agenda, Stand Up America has driven over 600,000 phone calls to Congress and mobilized tens of thousands of protestors across the country.
LATEST NEWS
Tax the Rich, Say Mamdani, Sanders, and NYC Inauguration Crowd
"For too long in our city, freedom has belonged only to those who can afford to buy it," said the new mayor. "Our City Hall will change that."
Jan 01, 2026
"Tax the rich. Tax the rich. Tax the rich."
The chants broke out at City Hall in New York on Thursday as US Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) addressed the crowd before swearing in Mayor Zohran Mamdani, a democratic socialist who campaigned on a platform that prioritized NYC's working class.
"Demanding that the wealthy and large corporations start paying their fair share of taxes is not radical. It is exactly the right thing to do," declared Sanders—who endorsed Mamdani even before his June primary victory over former Democratic New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and "the billionaire-backed status quo."
The 34-year-old mayor on Thursday described Brooklyn-born Sanders—50 years his senior—as "the man whose leadership I seek most to emulate, who I am so grateful to be sworn in by today."
During the afternoon inauguration ceremony—which followed an early morning swearing-in at the abandoned subway station beneath City Hall—Mamdani also called for taxing the rich as he reiterated the agenda that secured him over 1.1 million votes in November.
"Beginning today, we will govern expansively and audaciously. We may not always succeed, but never will we be accused of lacking the courage to try," he said. "To those who insist that the era of big government is over, hear me when I say this: No longer will City Hall hesitate to use its power to improve New Yorkers' lives."
"Here, where the language of the New Deal was born, we will return the vast resources of this city to the workers who call it home," Mamdani vowed. "Not only will we make it possible for every New Yorker to afford a life they love once again, we will overcome the isolation that too many feel, and connect the people of this city to one another."
The mayor said that "the cost of childcare will no longer discourage young adults from starting a family, because we will deliver universal childcare for the many by taxing the wealthiest few. Those in rent-stabilized homes will no longer dread the latest rent hike, because we will freeze the rent."
"Getting on a bus without worrying about a fare hike or whether you'll be late to your destination will no longer be deemed a small miracle, because we will make buses fast and free," he continued. "These policies are not simply about the costs we make free, but the lives we fill with freedom. For too long in our city, freedom has belonged only to those who can afford to buy it. Our City Hall will change that."
The ceremony also featured remarks from another early Mamdani supporter, Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), as well as the swearing-in of Jumaane Williams for a third term as New York City's public advocate and Mark Levine, the new comptroller.
"New York, we have chosen courage over fear," said Ocasio-Cortez, whose district spans the Bronx and Queens. "We have chosen prosperity for the many over spoils for the few. And when the entrenched ways would rather have us dig in our feet and seek refuge in the past, we have chosen instead to turn towards making a new future for all of us."
AOC: New York City has chosen the ambitious pursuit of universal childcare, affordable rents and housing and clean and dignified public transit for all. We have chosen that over the distractions of bigotry and the barbarism of extreme income inequality
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— Acyn (@acyn.bsky.social) January 1, 2026 at 1:47 PM
As NYC kicked off the new year with progressive city leadership, 2025 findings from the Bloomberg Billionaire Index sparked fresh wealth tax demands. According to the tracker, the world's 500 richest people added a record $2.2 trillion to their collective fortunes last year. About a quarter of that went to just eight Big Tech billionaires: Jeff Bezos, Sergey Brin, Michael Dell, Larry Ellison, Jensen Huang, Elon Musk, Larry Page, and Mark Zuckerberg.
In New York, Mamdani has proposed raising the state corporate tax rate from 8.85% to 11.5% and hiking taxes for individuals who make more than $1 million a year. Achieving those goals would require cooperation from state legislators.
Mamdani acknowledged Thursday that for much of history, the response from City Hall to the question of who New York belongs to has been, "It belongs only to the wealthy and well-connected, those who never strain to capture the attention of those in power."
In the years ahead, he pledged, "City Hall will deliver an agenda of safety, affordability, and abundance, where government looks and lives like the people it represents, never flinches in the fight against corporate greed, and refuses to cower before challenges that others have deemed too complicated."
"Together, we will tell a new story of our city," the mayor said. "This will not be a tale of one city, governed only by the 1%. Nor will it be a tale of two cities, the rich versus the poor. It will be a tale of 8.5 million cities, each of them a New Yorker with hopes and fears, each a universe, each of them woven together."
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500 Richest People Gained Record $2.2 Trillion in 2025, Fueling Calls for Wealth Tax
"If the monstrous political-economic system that is tearing our planet, the climate, and its people apart isn't brought to its knees—then humanity will be," warned one climate scientist.
Jan 01, 2026
Led by Big Tech billionaires including Jeff Bezos, Larry Ellison, and Elon Musk, the world's 500 richest people added a record $2.2 trillion to their collective wealth in 2025, Bloomberg reported as the year ended on Wednesday.
"Obscene greed! While billions of people live in poverty," human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell responded on X—a social media platform now controlled by Musk, the richest person on Earth. "It's why we need a global wealth tax."
Musk—who could become the world's first trillionaire thanks to his new controversial pay package as CEO of Tesla—is one of just eight ultrawealthy individuals who got around a quarter of all the gains recorded by the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
The others are Amazon founder Bezos and Oracle chairman Ellison, as well as Michael Dell, Google co-founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page, Jensen Huang of Nvidia, and Meta's Mark Zuckerberg. The previous year, Bloomberg noted, "the same eight billionaires made up 43% of the total gains."
According to Bloomberg, the gains that brought the combined net worth of all 500 people to $11.9 trillion "were turbocharged" by the 2024 election victory of President Donald Trump. The Republican and his relatives were among the "biggest winners" of 2025, gaining at least $282 million, for a net worth of $6.8 billion.
The "winners" also include Musk, who gained $190.3 billion for a net worth of $622.7 billion; Ellison, who gained $57.7 billion for a net worth of $249.8 billion; and Australian mining magnate Gina Rinehart, who gained $12.6 billion for a net worth of $37.7 billion.
After Trump's electoral win, several Big Tech billionaires buddied up to him, with Bezos, Musk, Zuckerberg, Apple CEO Tim Cook, and Google CEO Sundar Pichai all attending his inauguration. Musk then spent several months spearheading the administration's attack on federal workforce as the de facto leader of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
The world’s 500 richest people have total wealth of $11.9tn.Their wealth up by $2.2tn in 2025. 8 billionaires accounting for a 25% of the gains.No one becomes this rich by working.They fund right-wing parties, oppose worker/human rights, cause more pollution than normal people.
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— Prem Sikka (@premnsikka.bsky.social) January 1, 2026 at 3:21 AM
Sharing the Guardian's coverage of the findings on the social media network Bluesky, British climate scientist Bill McGuire warned that "if the monstrous political-economic system that is tearing our planet, the climate, and its people apart isn't brought to its knees—then humanity will be."
The Guardian pointed to Oxfam International's November statement that $2.2 trillion "would have been more than enough to lift 3.8 billion people out of poverty," which the humanitarian group highlighted ahead of the Group of 20 Summit hosted by South Africa, whose government used its G20 presidency to push for solutions to global inequality.
"Inequality is a deliberate policy choice. Despite record wealth at the top, public wealth is stagnating, even declining, and debt distress is growing," Oxfam executive director Amitabh Behar said at the time. "Inequality rips away life opportunities and rights from the majority of citizens, sparking poverty, hunger, resentment, distrust, and instability."
A June 2024 report from French economist and EU Tax Observatory director Gabriel Zucman—prepared for the G20's Brazilian presidency—estimated that a global 2% minimum tax on the wealth of 3,000 billionaires could generate about $250 billion.
As seven Nobel laureates, including Joseph Stiglitz, noted in a July op-ed published by the French newspaper Le Monde, "By extending this minimum rate to individuals with wealth over $100 million, these sums would increase significantly."
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‘Scorched-Earth Attack’: Trump Admin Cuts Off Childcare Funds to All States
"My team and I are exploring all our legal options to ensure that critical childcare services do not get abruptly slashed based on pretext and grandstanding," said Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison.
Jan 01, 2026
The Trump administration on Wednesday froze federal childcare funding to every state in the US after initially suspending funds for Minnesota earlier this week, a move that the state's Democratic attorney general condemned as a "hasty, scorched-earth attack" on key social services.
Jim O'Neill, deputy secretary of the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), said in a statement posted to social media that he has "activated our defend the spend system for all [Administration for Children and Families] payments" to states, alleging "fraud that appears to be rampant in Minnesota and across the country." As evidence, O'Neill cited a viral video by Nick Shirley, a right-wing influencer who recently visited Somali-owned Minnesota daycare sites at the direction of state Republicans.
In order to receive Administration for Children and Families (ACF) funding going forward, O'Neill said Thursday, states will have to provide "a justification and a receipt or photo evidence." States with childcare centers that the Trump administration suspects of fraud will have to jump through additional hoops, according to an HHS spokesperson.
The Trump administration's decision to cut off childcare funds to all states—not just Minnesota—on the dubious grounds of fighting fraud came after Democratic Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz accused President Donald Trump of politicizing the issue to advance a broader assault on the social safety net.
"While Minnesota has been combating fraud, the president has been letting fraudsters out of jail," Walz wrote in a social media post on Thursday, apparently referring to the president's commutation of the seven-year prison sentence of David Gentile, a former private equity executive convicted of defrauding more than 10,000 investors.
"Trump’s using an issue he doesn’t give a damn about as an excuse to hurt working Minnesotans," Walz added.
"If we allow this funding freeze to happen, all Minnesotans are going to suffer."
In a statement on Wednesday, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison said that the Trump administration "is threatening funding for the essential childcare services that countless families across Minnesota rely on—apparently all on the basis of one video on social media."
"To say I am outraged is an understatement," he said. "We’ve seen this movie before. In mid-December, the Trump administration gave four counties in Minnesota one month to conduct in-person interviews with almost 100,000 households that receive [Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program] benefits to reverify their eligibility."
"My team and I are exploring all our legal options to ensure that critical childcare services do not get abruptly slashed based on pretext and grandstanding," Ellison added.
Minnesota state Rep. Carlie Kotyza-Witthuhn (D-49B), co-chair of the Legislature's committee on children and families, warned that "if we allow this funding freeze to happen, all Minnesotans are going to suffer."
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