449

Justice Clarence Thomas is finding increasingly creative ways to justify reshaping long-standing laws.

During a rare appearance at Catholic University’s Columbus School of Law in Washington, D.C., on Thursday, the George H.W. Bush–appointed justice said the Supreme Court should take a more critical approach to settled precedent, arguing that decided cases are not “the gospel,” ABC News reported.

Thomas, 77, compared his Supreme Court colleagues to passengers on a train, and said: ”We never go to the front to see who’s driving the train, where is it going. And you could go up there in the engine room, find it’s an orangutan driving the train, but you want to follow that just because it’s a train.”

He reasoned that some precedents were simply “something somebody dreamt up and others went along with.”

top 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[-] Asafum@feddit.nl 101 points 6 days ago

"Left wing activist judges! Activist judges! Activist judges! The left! The left wing activist judges!"

... fucking projection ass hypocrites. Always.

[-] Zink@programming.dev 21 points 6 days ago

Legislating from the bench!!!

[-] prole 7 points 6 days ago

We can NEVER forget that this is what they do

[-] nosuchanon@lemmy.world 16 points 5 days ago

**Translation:**The law is whatever you pay me to make the law.

[-] tux@lemmy.world 17 points 6 days ago

Ironically I don’t disagree with him but for completely different reasons. It’s pretty obvious he wants to use this as an excuse to do whatever he’s paid to do by the biggest bribe.

But Jefferson pushed for vast changes and “revolution” (not the violent type which honestly feels pretty naive) every generation. Because why should the rules and ideals and commitment of the dead hold back the present and future.

I have always thought precedent, when it comes to interpreting laws, should have an expiration date. If congress doesn't pass a law to support the precedent, then it is no longer valid after that date. For constitutional interpretations, once past the expiration, a lower court can't use it as justification anymore.

[-] Natanael@infosec.pub 4 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago)

That works great and all until somebody tries to block renewal of basic human rights. Put constitutional referendums on a schedule.

Here in Sweden two consecutive elected governments have to approve changes to the constitution. Seems like another useful tool to prevent abuse.

Lower court precedence, however, sure it would be nice with expiration dates so legislature has to authorize it explicitly to keep it. You could even have boards whose responsibility is to translate precedence from courts into law proposals to be voted on.

[-] tux@lemmy.world 2 points 5 days ago

With the US 2 party system and first past the post voting system practically nothing would ever change then. Which does mean one crazy wannabe dictator can’t do as much damage. But also means getting progressive policies pushed through would also be impossible.

But I do like that idea in theory, once we solve our 2 party problem then something like that would make a lot of sense. I don’t know how we will ever solve that, figured for sure after January 6th and COVID that a real 3rd party would gain traction? And yet here we are.

[-] SabinStargem@lemmy.today 12 points 6 days ago

If Clarence is sentenced at Nuremberg, I suggest that it should be a drawing and quartering by his motorcoach fleet.

[-] RandomlyGeneratedName@lemmy.world 12 points 6 days ago

The right has always been hypocrites. Now they are so blatant they can’t even coherently argue their points. It’s just corruption. Pure and simple. The constitution and precedent only ever mattered when it was advantageous to them / their bribers.

[-] RampantParanoia2365@lemmy.world 11 points 6 days ago

“At some point we need to think about what we’re doing with stare decisis‚" Thomas said, referring to the legal principle of abiding by precedent. “And it’s not some sort of talismanic deal where you can just say ‘stare decisis’ and not think, turn off the brain, right?”

....I have no idea. What the holy fuck did you just say? Was that English, Clarence?

[-] Archer@lemmy.world 8 points 6 days ago

Oh that’s easy, stare decisis for things we like and overturning everything we don’t like. Simple!

[-] NutWrench@lemmy.ml 12 points 6 days ago

What a stupid metaphor. Settled law is called "precedent." If there's an orangutan driving the train it's because YOU GUYS made that possible.

[-] Zeddex@sh.itjust.works 8 points 6 days ago

There is an orangutan driving the train. His name is Trump.

[-] A_Random_Idiot@lemmy.world 13 points 6 days ago

I wonder how much these public statements cost whoever paid him to make them.

they aren't paid per statement, they're paid in batch. like, they're given a ... wtf do i know, some kind of compensation, then they make a whole lot of these statements, but it's not like there's a 1:1 mapping between reward and action. because if there was, somebody could point that out and say it's bribery. like this, the reward is always "for something else".

[-] crystalmerchant@lemmy.world 14 points 6 days ago

Lmao orangutan is a particularly apt metaphor

[-] SPRUNT@lemmy.world 14 points 6 days ago

Even the actual gospel isn't gospel to these demons.

[-] Aljernon@lemmy.today 6 points 5 days ago

When the US constitution was written, it was assumed they didn't have to spell out exactly how the judiciary would work because the Anglo-Saxon legal tradition was over a millennia old without getting written down (predating statute law) but apparently that assumption was wrong.

[-] acchariya@lemmy.world 10 points 6 days ago

Is it a new motorhome?

[-] AllNewTypeFace@leminal.space 13 points 1 week ago
[-] Gates9@sh.itjust.works 12 points 1 week ago

These people are the real “Satanists”. They believe in a will to power and nothing else.

[-] Armok_the_bunny@lemmy.world 12 points 1 week ago

Hey hey, don't lump the satanists in with these pieces of shit, they are actually generally pretty cool in my experience.

load more comments (1 replies)
[-] _stranger_@lemmy.world 5 points 6 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago)

I really need to make a version of this gif that has dollar signs on the glasses

[-] melsaskca@lemmy.ca 7 points 6 days ago

Why would we care what this money-hole thinks. Especially when this money-hole accepts bribes.

[-] prex@aussie.zone 2 points 5 days ago

And the rape, don't forget about the rape.

[-] yesman@lemmy.world 5 points 6 days ago

That sounds like the Living Constitution with extra steps.

[-] HubertManne@piefed.social 3 points 6 days ago

Im sure in the rulings he won't give any explanation at all. Every time no explanation is given I assume the explanation is because fuck the people and the constitution that was built around the principle of power coming from it.

Cash in pocket doesn't seem to be a very bonkers reason to me.

Wrong? Sure. Foolish? Absolutely. Short-sighted? No doubt.

But bonkers? Who wouldn't sell their fellow man out for a few extra bucks? Hell, a nice new RV sure sounds nice, maybe a vacation to go along with it.

load more comments (1 replies)
[-] Daft_ish@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 5 days ago

What it must be like to be a reptile in a human skin.

load more comments
view more: next ›
this post was submitted on 27 Sep 2025
449 points (100.0% liked)

politics

25921 readers
2203 users here now

Welcome to the discussion of US Politics!

Rules:

  1. Post only links to articles, Title must fairly describe link contents. If your title differs from the site’s, it should only be to add context or be more descriptive. Do not post entire articles in the body or in the comments.

Links must be to the original source, not an aggregator like Google Amp, MSN, or Yahoo.

Example:

  1. Articles must be relevant to politics. Links must be to quality and original content. Articles should be worth reading. Clickbait, stub articles, and rehosted or stolen content are not allowed. Check your source for Reliability and Bias here.
  2. Be civil, No violations of TOS. It’s OK to say the subject of an article is behaving like a (pejorative, pejorative). It’s NOT OK to say another USER is (pejorative). Strong language is fine, just not directed at other members. Engage in good-faith and with respect! This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban.
  3. No memes, trolling, or low-effort comments. Reposts, misinformation, off-topic, trolling, or offensive. Similarly, if you see posts along these lines, do not engage. Report them, block them, and live a happier life than they do. We see too many slapfights that boil down to "Mom! He's bugging me!" and "I'm not touching you!" Going forward, slapfights will result in removed comments and temp bans to cool off.
  4. Vote based on comment quality, not agreement. This community aims to foster discussion; please reward people for putting effort into articulating their viewpoint, even if you disagree with it.
  5. No hate speech, slurs, celebrating death, advocating violence, or abusive language. This will result in a ban. Usernames containing racist, or inappropriate slurs will be banned without warning

We ask that the users report any comment or post that violate the rules, to use critical thinking when reading, posting or commenting. Users that post off-topic spam, advocate violence, have multiple comments or posts removed, weaponize reports or violate the code of conduct will be banned.

All posts and comments will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. This means that some content that violates the rules may be allowed, while other content that does not violate the rules may be removed. The moderators retain the right to remove any content and ban users.

That's all the rules!

Civic Links

Register To Vote

Citizenship Resource Center

Congressional Awards Program

Federal Government Agencies

Library of Congress Legislative Resources

The White House

U.S. House of Representatives

U.S. Senate

Partnered Communities:

News

World News

Business News

Political Discussion

Ask Politics

Military News

Global Politics

Moderate Politics

Progressive Politics

UK Politics

Canadian Politics

Australian Politics

New Zealand Politics

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS