Justice Clarence Thomas, the longest-serving justice on the Supreme Court, blasted critics for portraying the high court as partisan during remarks Thursday at the University of Notre Dame.
He was the latest justice to defend the institution, with Justice Amy Coney Barrett and Justice Stephen G. Breyer recently both insisting their colleagues do not decide cases based on their politics during separate appearances earlier this month.
Justice Thomas, who has served on the court since 1991 after being appointed by former President George H.W. Bush, said justices don’t rule on “personal preferences” and that leaders shouldn’t “allow others to manipulate our institutions when we don’t get the outcome we like,” according to The Washington Post.
The justice, though, did not directly comment on a recent campaign by progressives to add justices to the high court in hopes of overturning the current 6-3 conservative majority. President Biden has created a commission to study the issue of court expansion, and the group is expected to release its findings in November.
Justice Thomas did take aim at the media over how the court is covered, suggesting such reporting could “jeopardize any faith in the legal institutions.”
“I think the media makes it sound as though you are just always going right to your personal preference,” Justice Thomas said, according to The Post. “So if they think you are anti-abortion or something personally, they think that’s the way you always will come out. They think you’re for this or for that. They think you become like a politician.”
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The high court will return for its upcoming term in October after a summer recess.
The justices will hear arguments in person for the first time since March 2020 when the court closed due to the coronavirus pandemic. The justices have been hearing arguments remotely via teleconference for more than a year.
During the next term, they’ll grapple with a case weighing the Second Amendment right to carry firearms outside the home and abortion rights in a case out of Mississippi over its ban on abortion after 15 weeks.
• Alex Swoyer can be reached at aswoyer@washingtontimes.com.
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