Particle.news
Download on the App Store
4 ARTICLES
·
1h ago

Clarence Thomas Questions Stare Decisis, Says Precedent Is Not 'the Gospel'

His comments revive scrutiny of privacy-based rights with no rehearing of Obergefell on the court’s docket.

Image
WASHINGTON, DC - FEBRUARY 07: Supreme Court Justices Amy Coney Barrett and Ketanji Brown Jackson listen as President Joe Biden delivers the State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress on February 7, 2023 in the House Chamber of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, DC. The speech marks President Biden's first address to the new Republican-controlled House. (Photo by Jacquelyn Martin-Pool/Getty Images)
FILE - United States Supreme Court (front row L-R) Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor, Associate Justice Clarence Thomas, Chief Justice of the United States John Roberts, Associate Justice Samuel Alito, and Associate Justice Elena Kagan, (back row L-R) Associate Justice Amy Coney Barrett, Associate Justice Neil Gorsuch, Associate Justice Brett Kavanaugh and Associate Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson pose for their official portrait at the East Conference Room of the Supreme Court building on October 7, 2022, in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)
Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas said the precedent principle is “not some sort of talismanic deal where you can just say ‘stare decisis’ and not think, turn off the brain,” according to ABC News. (J. SCOTT APPLEWHITE/AP FILE)

Overview

  • Speaking at Catholic University, Thomas said he would not follow rulings he considers illogical and cautioned against treating stare decisis as automatic.
  • In his 2022 concurrence after Roe was overturned, he urged reconsideration of substantive-due-process decisions on contraception, same-sex intimacy, and marriage.
  • The Supreme Court has not taken up any case to reexamine Obergefell, including Kim Davis’s petition, and recently introduced state resolutions urging review are nonbinding.
  • A reversal of Obergefell would allow 31 states to bar same-sex marriage, though federal recognition would continue under the Respect for Marriage Act.
  • Gallup reports broad public support for marriage equality, and Justice Amy Coney Barrett has described marriage as a fundamental right while emphasizing deference to democratic processes.