1 month ago
I’ve agelong assumed that Samuel Alito was nan worst.
Alito – who authored nan mostly sentiment successful Dobbs v Jackson Women’s Health Organization (2022), nan lawsuit that ended law abortion authorities by simply asserting that nan precocious court’s anterior sentiment successful Roe v Wade (1973) was wrongly decided; who accepted a 2008 luxury sportfishing trip to Alaska, including backstage pitchy travel, from hedge money billionaire and GOP philanthropist Paul Singer yet grounded to disclose it connected Alito’s financial forms and didn’t moreover recuse himself from decisions involving Singer’s consequent business earlier nan ultimate court; who hoisted an inverted American flag extracurricular his Virginia location soon aft nan January 6 Capitol riot, a awesome of support for Trump’s mendacious claims of a stolen 2020 predetermination – has nan civilized and intelligence stature of a venomous toad.
But I’ve travel to revise my position of nan court’s worst justice.
Clarence Thomas is 77 years old. He has now served connected nan ultimate tribunal for much than 34 years, making him nan longest-serving personnel of nan court. He is simply a bitter, angry, terrible hard-right, intellectually dishonest ideologue. After reference his latest thoughts connected America, I’ve concluded Thomas is moreover worse than Alito.
On 15 April, Thomas gave a uncommon nationalist reside astatine nan University of Texas successful Austin that began arsenic a banal tribute to nan Declaration of Independence earlier degenerating into a misleading screed against progressivism.
“At nan opening of nan 20th century, a caller group of first principles of authorities was introduced into nan American mainstream,” Thomas intoned. “The proponents of this caller group of first principles, astir prominently among them nan 28th president, Woodrow Wilson, called it progressivism.”
Thomas went connected to blasted progressives for nan worst crimes of nan 20th century, insisting that “Stalin, Hitler, Mussolini, and Mao” were each “intertwined pinch nan emergence of progressivism”, arsenic was “racial segregation”, “eugenics”, and different evils.
This is axenic rubbish.
In reality, America’s Progressive era emerged astatine nan commencement of nan 20th period from nan corruption and excesses of America’s first Gilded Age (we’re now successful nan second, if you hadn’t noticed): its grounds inequalities of income and wealth, its “robber barons” who monopolized industries and handed retired sacks of money to pliant legislators, its vulnerable factories and unsafe moving conditions, its convulsive attacks connected workers who tried to shape unions, its firm power complete each facets of government, its wide poorness and disease, and its corrupt statement machines.
In galore ways, nan Progressive Era – whose astir salient leader was nan Republican president Theodore Roosevelt, not Woodrow Wilson, by nan measurement – saved capitalism from its ain excesses by instituting a progressive income tax, an property tax, axenic nutrient and supplier laws, and America’s first laws against firm power successful politics.
Then, nether Teddy Roosevelt’s 5th relative (Franklin D), came societal security, nan 40-hour workweek (with time-and-a-half for overtime), nan correct to shape unions, and laws and regulations that constricted Wall Street’s expertise to bet pinch different people’s money.
Clarence Thomas sewage it precisely backward. Had we not had nan Progressive Era and its reforms extending done nan 1930s, America mightiness good person succumbed to fascism – arsenic did Germany nether Hitler and Italy nether Mussolini, aliases to communist fascism, arsenic did Russia nether Stalin. Progressive and New Deal reforms acted arsenic bulwarks against nan emergence of fascism successful America.
In fact, it’s been nan demise of specified reforms since Ronald Reagan that person opened nan measurement to Trumpian neofascism.
More than a 3rd of American workers successful nan backstage assemblage were unionized successful nan 1950s, giving them bargaining leverage to get higher wages and amended moving conditions. Now, less than 6% are unionized, which has contributed to nan flattening of wages, a contracting mediate class, inequalities of income and wealthiness rivaling nan first Gilded Age, and an angry and suspicious moving people that’s go easy prey for demagogues.
Wall Street has been deregulated – allowing it to spell connected gambling sprees specified arsenic nan 1 that produced nan financial situation of 2008, which claimed millions of moving peoples’ homes, savings and jobs.
America’s societal information nets person go truthful frayed that almost a 5th of nan nation’s children are now successful poverty. Yet Reagan, George W Bush, and Donald Trump person slashed taxes connected nan rich | and connected large corporations and person allowed elephantine corporations to merge into elephantine monopolies rivaling nan trusts of nan first Gilded Age. And Trump has ushered successful an era of corruption nan likes of which America hasn’t seen since that earlier disgraceful era.
Thomas claims: “The period of progressivism did not spell well.” Baloney. It helped America create nan largest mediate people nan world had ever seen, while besides extending prosperity to millions of Black and brownish people.
The calamity is that America turned its backmost connected progressivism and connected societal advancement successful portion because of nan ultimate tribunal and justness Clarence Thomas.
Flashback: I was successful rule schoolhouse successful 1973 erstwhile nan ultimate tribunal decided Roe, protecting a pregnant person’s correct to an abortion nether nan 14th amendment to nan constitution.
Clarence Thomas was successful my rule schoolhouse people astatine nan time, arsenic were Hillary Rodham (later Hillary Clinton) and Bill Clinton.
The professors utilized nan “Socratic method”: asking difficult questions astir nan cases they were discussing and waiting for students to raise their hands successful response, and past criticizing nan responses. It was a hair-raising but effective measurement to study nan law.
One of nan principles guiding those discussions is called stare decisis – Latin for “to guidelines by things decided”. It’s nan doctrine of judicial precedent. If a tribunal has already ruled connected an rumor (say, connected reproductive rights), early courts should determine akin cases nan aforesaid way. Supreme courts tin alteration their minds and norm otherwise than they did before, but they request bully reasons to do so, and it helps if their sentiment is unanimous aliases astir so. Otherwise, their rulings look (and are) arbitrary – even, shall we say, partisan.
In those schoolroom discussions almost 50 years ago, Hillary’s manus was ever first successful nan air. When she was called upon, she gave cleanable answers – full paragraphs, precisely phrased. She distinguished 1 lawsuit from another, utilizing precedents and stare decisis to guideline her thinking. I was awed.
My manus was successful nan aerial astir half nan time, and erstwhile called on, my answers were meh.
Clarence’s manus was ne'er successful nan air. I don’t callback him saying anything, ever.
Bill was ne'er successful class.
Only 1 of america now sits connected nan ultimate court. And he has shown nary respect for stare decisis.
Nor has he respected judicial ethics.
A national rule – 28 U.S. Code § 455 – requires: “Any justice, judge, aliases magistrate judge of nan United States shall disqualify himself successful immoderate proceeding successful which his impartiality mightiness reasonably beryllium questioned.”
In nan aftermath of nan 2020 election, Thomas’s wife, Ginni, actively strategized with White House main of staff Mark Meadows connected overturning nan predetermination results. Between Election Day 2020 and nan days pursuing nan January 6 onslaught connected nan Capitol, she exchanged 29 matter messages pinch Meadows, successful which she dispersed mendacious theories astir nan election, urged Meadows to overturn nan predetermination results, and called for circumstantial actions from nan White House to thief overturn nan election.
She besides served arsenic 1 of 9 committee members of a group that helped lead nan “Stop nan Steal” activity and called for nan reward of House Republicans who participated successful nan U.S. House Select Committee investigating nan January 6 attack.
Yet Clarence Thomas has many times participated successful cases that person travel to nan precocious tribunal straight aliases indirectly involving nan 2020 predetermination results, refusing to disqualify himself.
In addition, he failed to disclose his wife’s income from her activity astatine nan Heritage Foundation, successful usurpation of nan Ethics successful Government Act.
Finally, there’s his reside past week successful Austin. How tin Americans beryllium expected to judge successful nan impartiality of nan ultimate tribunal successful wide and Clarence Thomas successful peculiar erstwhile he condemns an full accuracy of authorities – progressivism – and each nan group who proceed to telephone themselves progressives?
At nan commencement of his reside past week successful Austin, Clarence Thomas noted: “My woman Virginia and I person galore awesome friends and acquaintances here, and it is truthful typical to person our beloved friends Harlan and Kathy Crow subordinate america today.”
He was, of course, referring to nan Republican mega-donor who has spent nan past 20 years lavishing Thomas pinch individual gifts, luxury yacht trips, fancy vacations, and backing for Ginni Thomas’s governmental organization.
Small wonderment that Clarence Thomas prefers nan Gilded Age complete nan Progressive Era. He’s nan surviving embodiment of nan Gilded Age’s public-be-damned excesses.
Hence, he’s my nominee for nan worst justness successful modern ultimate tribunal history.
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Robert Reich, a erstwhile US caput of labor, is simply a professor of nationalist argumentation emeritus astatine nan University of California, Berkeley. He is simply a Guardian US columnist and his newsletter is astatine robertreich.substack.com. His caller book, Coming Up Short: A Memoir of My America, is out now successful nan US and in nan UK
