Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas is by far the most conservative Justice on the nation's highest Court.
In both his rulings and public comments, Thomas has repeatedly criticized the landmark Roe v. Wade decision legalizing abortion in the United States. In 2019, Thomas dissented in a Supreme Court ruling upholding Gideon v. Wainright, which entitles defendants to counsel, regardless of ability to pay. He's written that states can favor certain religions over others.
Thomas has also been accused of using the Court to promote former President Donald Trump's baseless claims alleging widespread election fraud.
Thomas's wife, Ginni Thomas, is an outspoken conservative activist and supported former President Donald Trump's Save America rally on January 6, after which attendees participated in the deadly failed insurrection against the U.S. Capitol. Ginni Thomas also helped Trump identify government officials she perceived as disloyal to him.
Recently, Justice Thomas warned against an overtly political Supreme Court during a University of Notre Dame lecture.
Watch below.
In rare public remarks, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas told a Notre Dame crowd, "I think the court was thought to\u00a0be the least\u00a0dangerous\u00a0branch, and we may have become the\u00a0most\u00a0dangerous."pic.twitter.com/EHK2pEGWdB— The Recount (@The Recount) 1631878633
Thomas said:
"When we begin to venture into political, the legislative or executive branch lanes, those of us, particularly in the federal judiciary with lifetime appointments, are asking for trouble."
Given Thomas's near-constant conservative decisions, social media users chastised him for hypocrisy.
Clarence Thomas, whose rulings in key cases mysteriously always conform with his political and partisan preferences, says the justices do not make decisions based on politics. Hahahahahahttps://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/courts_law/justice-clarence-thomas/2021/09/16/d2ddc1ba-1714-11ec-a5e5-ceecb895922f_story.html\u00a0\u2026— Norman Ornstein (@Norman Ornstein) 1631844853
Thomas is speaking out against something he is actively doing.https://www.cnn.com/2021/09/16/politics/clarence-thomas-supreme-court/index.html\u00a0\u2026— Molly Jong-Fast (@Molly Jong-Fast) 1631877778
Clarence Thomas didn\u2019t seem too worried about \u201cdestroying our institutions\u201d when he cast the deciding vote to make Bush president in 2000 or to gut the Voting Rights Act in 2013 or when he sat silently from 2017-2021 as Trump trashed our institutions.https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/courts_law/justice-clarence-thomas/2021/09/16/d2ddc1ba-1714-11ec-a5e5-ceecb895922f_story.html\u00a0\u2026— Keith Boykin (@Keith Boykin) 1631856757
Indeed.\nAs in Citizens United v. FEC and every other case in which the Court has overturned laws restricting money in politics.\n\nJustice Clarence Thomas says judges are 'asking for trouble' when they wade into politicshttps://www.cnn.com/2021/09/16/politics/clarence-thomas-supreme-court/index.html\u00a0\u2026— Richard W. Painter (@Richard W. Painter) 1631877971
Absolutely ludicrous for Clarence Thomas to say he is worried about \u201cdestroying our institutions\u201d when his wife encouraged the domestic terrorists who attacked our Capitol in an attempt to murder the Vice President and Speaker of the House.pic.twitter.com/GcJKrOreOT— Kaivan Shroff (@Kaivan Shroff) 1631849063
Justice Thomas claiming that the Supreme Court isn\u2019t political is nonsense and we all know it. FWIW, whenever I teach Constitutional Law and students go, \u201cWho in the hell would write that opinion??\u201d the answer is invariably Clarence Thomas.— Miranda Yaver, PhD (@Miranda Yaver, PhD) 1631845660
In fact, critics said it was conservatives like Thomas who were embracing the politicization of the Supreme Court, evidenced most recently by its refusal to intervene in Texas's anti-abortion law, which is unconstitutional under Roe v. Wade.
Justice Thomas warns that we should all revere and respect the Supreme Court as it allows the violation of Constitutional rights via bounty hunterhttps://twitter.com/amarimow/status/1438643679435149314\u00a0\u2026— Judd Legum (@Judd Legum) 1631885000
The Supreme Court is illegitimate and nothing more than a mini Congress without the accountability. There\u2019s as much \u201claw\u201d being practiced in that court as there is among a population of rabid bats in a collapsing cave.— Walter Shaub (@Walter Shaub) 1631882440
Republicans hijacked the Judiciary by stealing two Supreme Court seats.\n\nAnd now they want us to respect illegitimate decisions from these people?\n\nGet lost.— Hakeem Jeffries (@Hakeem Jeffries) 1631592000
The Supreme Court's public approval rating has fallen to a record low.
