Thomas signals no slowdown to precedent purge

WASHINGTON (CN) — Justice Clarence Thomas defended the Supreme Court’s purge of longstanding precedents on Thursday, stating that those rulings need to be respectful of legal tradition, the country and the law.

“It’s not some sort of automatic deal where you can just say, ‘Stare decisis,’ and then turn off the brain,” the George H.W. Bush appointee said during an event at Catholic University Law School.

Thomas described stare decisis — the legal principle of following precedential rulings — as a series of cars on a long train. New cases become additional cars, following the train wherever it’s going.

“We never go to the front to see who’s driving the train or where it is going, and you could go up there to the engine room and find out it’s an orangutan,” Thomas said.

His remarks come days after the high court put another decades-old precedent on the chopping block. Unlike other times the Roberts court has overturned precedent, however, the conservative justices allowed President Donald Trump to act as though the deed had already been done.

The conservative majority has faced sharp criticism for overturning Roe v. Wade * and* Chevron v. NRDC , gutting affirmative action, and eliminating key provisions of the Voting Rights Act. On Monday, the court said it would review Humphrey’s Executor v. United States , a 1935 ruling governing presidential authority over independent regulatory board members.

Thomas noted that some rulings that have been disregarded were never officially overturned, such as Buck v. Bell , a 1927 ruling upholding forced sterilization that gave legal backing to the eugenics movement.

“Do we believe that you can go around sterilizing people just because the case has been decided?” Thomas asked.

Thomas said that respect to precedent was a two-way street.

“I do give respect to the precedent, but the precedent should be respectful of our legal tradition and our country and our laws and be based on something,” Thomas said.

During the hourlong conversation with a former law clerk, Thomas discussed his love of teaching, shared life experiences and opined on how his faith influences his jurisprudence. Thomas is teaching a course at Catholic University this semester.

Follow @KelseyReichmann Follow @kelseyreichmann.bsky.social