Overview

• Thomas spoke Thursday at Catholic University's Columbus School of Law in Washington, D.C., just over a week before the Supreme Court’s new term opens on Oct. 6.
• He said decided cases are not "the gospel" and cautioned that stare decisis is not a talisman that excuses unthinking deference to past rulings.
• Warning against blind adherence, he likened uncritical follow-the-leader to riding a train without checking who is driving, quipping that it could be an orangutan.
• The docket includes challenges that could test long-standing rulings, with arguments set for Louisiana v. Callais on Oct. 15 and Trump v. Slaughter in December, potentially targeting Gingles and Humphrey’s Executor.
• For the first time, the Court is weighing a cert petition explicitly asking to revisit Obergefell v. Hodges, echoing Thomas’s 2022 Dobbs concurrence urging reconsideration of substantive due process precedents.