Clarence Thomas Warns Supreme Court May Have Become the ‘Most Dangerous’ Branch of Government
(Photo by Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images)
Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas gave a lecture Thursday, at the University of Notre Dame, warning against the judiciary and individual judges from veering into politics on controversial issues presented to the court.
This speech comes after the Supreme Court received intense backlash earlier this month for allowing the controversial Texas abortion law to take effect by refusing to block the law, which bans abortion after six weeks of pregnancy.
Thomas spoke to how his upbringing in Georgia and his religious faith played a role in his place on the court, while addressing current issues of race and equality. The Supreme Court justice also did not hold back from voicing his concern for the court wading into controversial political issues.
“When we begin to venture into the legislative or executive branch lanes, those of us, particularly in the federal judiciary with lifetime appointments, are asking for trouble,” said Thomas, expressing his apprehension.
“It’s not about winning and losing at the court. It is about the entire country and the idea of this country,” he continued.
The Supreme Court justice acknowledged that controversial issues of the court have bled into the confirmation process saying, “I think that is problematic and hence the craziness during my confirmation was one of the results of that,” adding that “it was absolutely about abortion — a matter I had not thought deeply about at the time.”
Thomas continued to criticize the state of the judiciary, as well as the government as a whole. As leaders “We have lost the capacity to not allow others to manipulate our institutions when we don’t get the outcomes that we like.”
“I think we should be careful destroying our institutions because they don’t give us what we want when we want it,” he said. “I think we should be really, really careful.”
Thomas alluded to the judiciary wading into political controversies, “The court was thought to be the least dangerous branch and we may have become the most dangerous.”
