Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas last week cautioned against following precedent set by past decisions, ABC News .
He reportedly said during an event held by The Catholic University of America’s law school in Washington, D.C. that at some point “we need to think about what we’re doing with stare decisis,” the principle of honoring precedent.
“I don’t think that I have the gospel, that any of these cases that have been decided are the gospel, and I do give perspective to the precedent,” ABC News quoted him as saying. “But it should – the precedent should be respectful of our legal tradition, and our country, and our laws, and be based on something, not just something somebody dreamt up and others went along with.”
The justice noted that 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 the outlet.
The Supreme Court has, in recent years, overturned multiple decisions. Last year, the body reversed a 1984 ruling, two years after Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization eliminated the previously given constitutional right to abortion. Thomas reportedly said Thursday that some members of the court, whom he compared to train passengers, have blindly followed past judgments, although it’s unclear which rulings he was referring to.
“We never go to the front to see who’s driving the train, where is it going. And you could go up there in the engine room, find it’s an orangutan driving the train, but you want to follow that just because it’s a train,” ABC News quoted Thomas as explaining.
The justice made his comments during a year in which some of his colleagues have also spoken publicly about their work on and off the court.
Justice Amy Coney Barrett answered a question during a TV interview earlier this month on whether constitutional limits on presidential elections are “cut and dried,” a topic that has gained popularity as President Donald Trump considers running for a third term. Barrett said that the limits are found within the 22nd Amendment.
Justice Sonia Sotomayor also told hundreds of lawyers during an American Bar Association event in May that “we can’t lose the battles we are facing,” according to .
Sotomayor reportedly explained that she and the lawyers had a responsibility to stand up for people who couldn’t do it themselves.
“We need trained and passionate and committed lawyers to fight this fight,” the newspaper quoted Sotomayor as saying. “For me, being here with you is an act of solidarity.”
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