- Judge Clarence Thomas said Friday that society is “addicted to the desire for concrete results”.
- His comments came days after Roe’s expired draft opinion against Wade sparked protests.
- Thomas himself has been the subject of scrutiny over the ethics of his wife’s political activity.
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Supreme Court Judge Clarence Thomas on Friday expressed concern about public attitudes toward institutions, as the judge himself faces ethical questions about his wife’s actions in politics.
Thomas was speaking at the 11th District Judicial Conference in Atlanta, Georgia, days after the extraordinary expiration of a draft opinion showing that the Supreme Court could overturn Rowe against Wade.
Thomas said that society “is addicted to the desire for concrete results” and “does not live with the results we do not like,” according to Reuters.
“We cannot be an institution that can be harassed to give you exactly the results you want. The events of earlier this week are a symptom of that, “Thomas continued, apparently referring to the leak, but not explicitly mentioning it.
Thomas also said he was worried that young people were not following the law like previous generations, writes The Washington Post.
Thomas’ wife, Ginny, is accused of trying to undermine the law and influence a particularly powerful institution: the White House.
In the weeks between the 2020 election and the January 6 uprising, Ginny Thomas sent a number of text messages to Mark Meadows, chief of staff to former President Donald Trump, urging them to challenge the election results. The texts were obtained from The Washington Post and CBS News.
“Don’t admit it,” Ginny Thomas Meadows instructed in a text sent on November 6, 2020. “It takes time for the army to gather behind him.”
Days later, after President Joe Biden’s election was called, Ginny Thomas sent a text message to Meadows telling him to help Trump “stand firm”, adding: “You are the leader with him who defends the constitutional government of America before the abyss. The majority knows that Biden and the left are trying to commit the biggest robbery in our history. “
Some of the texts also include allegations of voter fraud and welcomed the efforts of Trump’s allies to challenge the results in court.
Her husband, along with the rest of the Supreme Court, ruled on some of these cases.
Virtually every legal challenge was stopped, but the text messages were revealed months after Clarence Thomas voted to block the January 6 recordings – recordings that include his wife’s communications.
Her ties to Republican leaders and her political activism in general have raised ethical concerns and even sparked some calls for the Supreme Court to adopt a code of conduct.
Ginny Thomas told the Washington Free Beacon in March that the couple had “our own careers as well as our own ideas and opinions,” adding: “Clarence doesn’t discuss her work with me and I don’t include him in my work.”
As for Americans’ respect for institutions, surveys show that it has declined in some areas, including the Supreme Court.
According to the Pew Research Center, the proportion of adults who have a favorable opinion of the court has fallen from 69 percent in August 2019 to 54 percent in January 2022.
A Supreme Court spokesman did not immediately respond to Insider’s request for comment.
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