Clarence Thomas Claims Supreme Court Isn’t Political

Axios reports:

Justice Clarence Thomas on Thursday, during rare public remarks at the University of Notre Dame, warned against politicizing the Supreme Court.

Thomas, 73, also criticized some of his colleagues, without naming names, for veering into the role of politicians, saying that “[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,” he added. “It is not about winning or losing at the court, it is about the entire country and the idea of this country,” Thomas said.

The Washington Post reports:



Thomas defended the independence of the Supreme Court on Thursday and warned against “destroying our institutions because they don’t give us what we want, when we want it.” Thomas, the longest serving justice, acknowledged that the high court has its flaws, comparing it to a “car with three wheels” that somehow still works.

But he said the justices are not ruling based on “personal preferences” and suggested that the nation’s leaders should not “allow others to manipulate our institutions when we don’t get the outcome that we like.”

Thomas is the latest justice to add his voice to the mix and publicly come to the court’s defense in the face of growing criticism that the nine justices are merely politicians in robes.