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submitted 1 week ago by MicroWave@lemmy.world to c/news@lemmy.world

The court is expected to weigh in next session on same-sex marriage, which it legalized in 2015

Settled legal precedent in the US is not “gospel” and in some instances may have been “something somebody dreamt up and others went along with”, the US supreme court justice Clarence Thomas has said.

Thomas – part of the conservative supermajority that has taken hold of the supreme court over Donald Trump’s two presidencies – delivered those comments Thursday at the Catholic University of America’s Columbus School of Law in Washington DC, ABC News and other outlets reported. His remarks preceded the nine-month term that the supreme court is scheduled to begin on 6 October.

“I don’t think that … any of these cases that have been decided are the gospel,” Thomas said during the rare public appearance, invoking a term which in a religious context is often used to refer to the word of God. “And I do give perspective to the precedent. But … the precedent should be respectful of our legal tradition, and our country and our laws, and be based on something – not just something somebody dreamt up and others went along with.”

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[-] bigfondue@lemmy.world 164 points 1 week ago

In other words, Uncle Thomas is done pretending he cares about the law

[-] TranscendentalEmpire@lemmy.today 40 points 1 week ago

Yeah..... Wonder if he's already got a carve out written up specifically for him when they overturn the civil rights act or interracial marriage?

[-] themeatbridge@lemmy.world 100 points 1 week ago

Just a reminder that this fucker sexually harassed Anita Hill for years.

[-] anomnom@sh.itjust.works 5 points 1 week ago

And subjected other colleagues and associates to his porn addiction at the very least.

[-] teft@piefed.social 77 points 1 week ago

It won't be precedent. It will be amount of RVs donated.

[-] AreaKode@lemmy.world 22 points 1 week ago

MOTOR COACH!

[-] fulcrummed@lemmy.world 2 points 1 week ago

God, that story seems like a lifetime ago.

[-] Zier@fedia.io 68 points 1 week ago

"precedent" was destroyed in 2022. The Supreme Court are just tools of the christian cult. They have destroyed American law.

[-] Zedstrian@lemmy.dbzer0.com 9 points 1 week ago

American law is as stable as a house of cards when half the country would rather base the law on presumptions of what 18th century white supremacists might have preferred to the needs of Americans in the 21st century...

[-] phdepressed@sh.itjust.works 8 points 1 week ago

Precedent was destroyed long before then...

[-] Jesus_666@lemmy.world 44 points 1 week ago

So wouldn't this mean that past SCOTUS decisions are irrelevant to new cases? So people could legitimately keep bringing near-identical cases to the SCOTUS level and have a legitimate expectation for them to be decided? That sounds obviously unwise even by current SCOTUS standards.

Mind you, Thomas probably wants to go by a rule of "precedent matters when I say it does", so consistency is irrelevant.

[-] NauticalNoodle@lemmy.ml 8 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

I think to a degree it's never mattered. If the composition of the Supreme Court has changed enough, then they just come up with their own ad-hoc justification to make new rulings over old cases. Before her death, I remember RBG was encouraging the public to bring new cases regarding older rulings.

[-] etherphon@midwest.social 40 points 1 week ago

We gotta change this lifetime appointment bullshit. Fuck this uncle tom loser asshole.

[-] MuskyMelon@lemmy.world 30 points 1 week ago

Clarence Thomas is the kind of man who after spending 12 years a slave would go out and hunt runaway slaves for his own new land.

[-] baronvonj@lemmy.world 29 points 1 week ago

A lot of words for "I don't like it"

[-] gedaliyah@lemmy.world 28 points 1 week ago

Why start respecting 200 years of norms in American law now?

[-] JoMiran@lemmy.ml 23 points 1 week ago
[-] splendid9583@kbin.earth 21 points 1 week ago
[-] PattyMcB@lemmy.world 20 points 1 week ago

I have completely lost all confidence in our government.

[-] xxce2AAb@feddit.dk 19 points 1 week ago

Just Clarence Thomas doing Clarence Thomas things.

[-] Mynameisallen@lemmy.zip 17 points 1 week ago

Ok, then when trump leaves and a democrat packs the court, then who gives a fuck? It’s not like the number of judges is gospel or anything. Or an age limit, again if we’re not going to follow the rules then who fucking cares

[-] NauticalNoodle@lemmy.ml 17 points 1 week ago

As much as I want it, I don't think the Democrats will ever be willing to pack the court. -and that makes me a little depressed.

[-] BanMe@lemmy.world 10 points 1 week ago

The last time they had the chance, polling told them Americans wouldn't be happy so they left it alone.

It's neat how they pay attention to what Americans want when it's the politically easy thing to do.

[-] njm1314@lemmy.world 15 points 1 week ago

Not like precedent was a large reason for rulings from this court so far.

[-] Sonicdemon86@lemmy.world 14 points 1 week ago

Ok so how do the citizens pull him out of that office?

There are ways to remove a supreme Court justice, however given the political landscape the only practical way he's leaving is through his death.

[-] Confused_Emus@lemmy.dbzer0.com 6 points 1 week ago

We can't, of course. SCotUS judges can only be removed by congressional impeachment, and we all know what a comically shit hope that is currently.

[-] Geodad@lemmy.world 2 points 1 week ago

They can also be removed by invoking the wnd amendment...

[-] masterofn001@lemmy.ca 1 points 1 week ago

By the neck.

[-] Geodad@lemmy.world 1 points 1 week ago

This is what the 2nd Amendment was written for...

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

Fun fact, Clarence Thomas' reaction to Samuel L Jackson in Django Unchained was, "Sam's getting soft in his old age."

[-] skuzz@discuss.tchncs.de 11 points 1 week ago

Reboot Congress in next elections, who have power to impeach the Supreme Court members and replace them. Reboot SC with stricter control. Likewise, strip many of the assumed powers the President has. Then a mass-cleanup of the Federal legal system to erase all the corruption that has been slowly injected over the last 40 years. Fixable, but a lot of focused work that will likely span a decade or more. Also likely something pretty historically unprecedented at this scale.

Biggest problem is: there needs to be a face, a movement. It doesn't have to be one person, it won't be Democrats, and it has to be ostensibly decentralized, especially from Big Tech, as they have tools to manipulate everything now.

[-] TheMinister@sh.itjust.works 10 points 1 week ago

So gay marriage is out, what else will they be hearing this session? It’s gonna get so much worse, I’m sure.

[-] tigeruppercut@lemmy.zip 12 points 1 week ago

I remember the joke from after Roe got overturned being that Uncle Tom was gonna legislate his way back to interracial marriage being illegal so he could sneak his way out of his own marriage.

[-] BanMe@lemmy.world 8 points 1 week ago

Yeah we got a bunch of analysts telling us a few months ago, no they'll leave that one alone. lol sure they're gonna take Roe, but not Obergefell? They just have to have the balls to write the goddamn thing, putrid as it will be, and god knows he's got 'em.

[-] ScrumpyDumpleskin@lemmy.world 10 points 1 week ago

Euphemism for " expect some crazy illegal shit to happen"

[-] salacious_coaster@infosec.pub 10 points 1 week ago

Constitutional Law Professors right now

[-] zululove@lemmy.ml 8 points 1 week ago

Like the law matters to anyone in 2025

[-] aeternum 8 points 1 week ago

fun fact: clarence thomas is a tosser. Thank you for your attention to this matter.

[-] pjwestin@lemmy.world 7 points 1 week ago

Precedent is important, but it's superseded by whether or not the plaintiff has taken Thomas on vacation recently.

[-] HeyThisIsntTheYMCA@lemmy.world 5 points 1 week ago

The precedent is the legal tradition you pompous buffoon (Thomas not OP)

[-] massive_bereavement@fedia.io 4 points 1 week ago

The Krusty the Clown of justice.

[-] Formfiller@lemmy.world 2 points 1 week ago

I mean we already know that because that’s what they’ve been doing for several years now

[-] DarkAri 1 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

No reason to care what the state thinks about your marriage. You can still get married without the states involvement. Just have a ceremony and stuff. The only downside is that trans women can't have children and be in a marriage as a business partnership, but trans women can't have kids anyways, so it doesn't matter. Outside of having children, legal marriage is not a good deal. It really only exists in its good form to protect the interests of women who may wish to have children in a relationship. If you really want to you can enter into a contract with someone to split your assets as one body for the duration of the partnership or marriage, so you can specialize without taking all the risk, and then just get married anyways while giving the middle finger to these bigots.

this post was submitted on 28 Sep 2025
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