As reproductive-rights protests continue after a leaked draft Supreme Court opinion that would overturn Roe v. Wade, Justice Clarence Thomas calls out John Roberts last week at a Dallas conference.
NBC News reports that Thomas spoke to a group of mostly lawyers and judges at the 11th Circuit Judicial Conference in Atlanta on Friday.
Here’s what Thomas said:
“We can’t be an institution that can be bullied into giving you just the outcomes you want. The events from earlier this week are a symptom of that.”
“We are becoming addicted to wanting particular outcomes, not living with the outcomes we don’t like,” he added.
Thomas, one of the more conservative justices on the bench, made some references to protests against the leaked draft opinion. This comes when Chief Justice John Roberts called the leak “absolutely appalling,” a day earlier at the same conference.
Earlier this week, the court confirmed the authenticity of the draft published by Politico and in a statement, Roberts confirmed the authenticity of the document written in February and said: “To the extent this betrayal of the confidences of the court was intended to undermine the integrity of our operations, it will not succeed.”
He added: “I have directed the marshal of the court to launch an investigation into the source of the leak.”
The leak is a particular blow to Roberts who, since becoming chief justice in 2005. The court then becomes increasingly politicized and suffers an erosion of public trust.
CNN reported:
Thomas last week recalled the court atmosphere before 2005, when Roberts joined, and said, “We actually trusted each other. We may have been a dysfunctional family, but we were a family, and we loved it.”
Thomas’ blunt remarks suggest new antagonism toward Roberts and added to the uncertainty regarding the ultimate ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, expected by the end of June. Roberts, with his institutionalist approach, is positioned as the one justice who might generate a compromise opinion that stops short of completely overturning Roe v. Wade, at least this year. That would thwart an outcome that Thomas has worked toward for decades.
But Thomas’ sudden aim at Roberts’ leadership is new. In the Dallas appearance, his message to the chief justice came down to: The court was better before you arrived.
As Thomas responded to a question about relations between justices, such as the celebrated friendship of the late Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Antonin Scalia, Thomas said, “This is not the court of that era.”
According to the copy of the draft opinion for the majority, a majority of justices appear to have voted to effectively overturn the 1973 landmark abortion precedent set in Roe v. Wade.
The 98-page opinion leaked by Politico was written by Justice Samuel Alito, one of the most conservative members of the court.
However, the source still remains a mystery.
Sources: Conservativebrief, CNN, Washingtonpost
Leave a Comment