The need to establish some link between conduct that should, according to Wegman, compel Thomas to recuse himself from Trump-related cases and Alito’s alleged offense produced what I’m confident ranks as one of the most embarrassing sentences the Times has ever published: “Justice Thomas’s extreme closeness with his wife (he has described them as being melded ‘into one being’) raises similar doubts about his ability to be impartial.”

Get that? “Extreme closeness.” A degree of marital devotion well beyond that which Americans should tolerate in their Supreme Court justices. Thomas’s judgment cannot be trusted — indeed, he appears to be “breaking federal law” — by virtue of failing to maintain an arm’s-length relationship with his own wife. Their suspect “closeness” must be seen as the most observable sign of a nefarious plot to undermine the separation of powers.