Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas is warning against “destroying our institutions because they don’t give us what we want, when we want it.”
Thomas criticized judges during his remarks at the University of Notre Dame on Thursday, saying “[w]hen 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.”
“The court was thought to be the least dangerous branch and we may have become the most dangerous,” the justice said.
Check out his remarks below:
In rare public remarks, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas told a Notre Dame crowd, "I think the court was thought to be the least dangerous branch, and we may have become the most dangerous." pic.twitter.com/EHK2pEGWdB
— The Recount (@therecount) September 17, 2021
He also compared the Supreme Court to a “car with three wheels,” according to The Washington Post. He said that justices do not rule on “personal preferences” and that leaders in the U.S. “allow others to manipulate our institutions when we don’t get the outcome that we like.”
Thomas is the court’s longest-serving member.
“We’ve gotten to the point where we’re really good at finding something that separates us,” Thomas also said.
When asked about public misconceptions of the Supreme Court, Thomas responded, “I think the media makes it sound as though you are just always going right to your personal preference. So if they think you are antiabortion or something personally, they think that’s the way you always will come out. They think you’re for this or for that. They think you become like a politician.”
“That’s a problem. You’re going to jeopardize any faith in the legal institutions,” he added.
Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett declared on Sunday at an event at the University of Louisville that the court “is not comprised of a bunch of partisan hacks.”
She also said justices have to be “hyper vigilant to make sure they’re not letting personal biases creep into their decisions, since judges are people, too,” according to The Associated Press (AP).
“To say the court’s reasoning is flawed is different from saying the court is acting in a partisan manner. I think we need to evaluate what the court is doing on its own terms,” Barrett said.