# The Clarence Thomas led Supreme Court **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [June 30, 2022, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-clarence-thomas-led-supreme-court/967189 "2022-06-30T15:40:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![smithsb](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smithsb/32/12107_2.png) [@smithsb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smithsb)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2022, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-clarence-thomas-led-supreme-court/967189/1 "2022-06-30T15:40:27Z")
We’ll start with this but it’s been going on since Oranganus rubber stamped Federalist nominees. Roe v. Wade > **[Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade, ending right to abortion upheld for decades](https://www.npr.org/2022/06/24/1102305878/supreme-court-abortion-roe-v-wade-decision-overturn)** > > The U.S. Supreme Court has overturned the constitutional right to an abortion, reversing Roe v. Wade, the court's five-decade-old decision that guaranteed a woman's right to obtain an abortion. > **[Senate’s Biggest Sucker Complains About Being Suckered](https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2022/05/susan-collins-shocked-roe-v-wade.html)** > > Susan Collins is shocked — shocked! — to find lying going on in her establishment. > **[Joe Manchin mocked for saying he's 'alarmed' by Kavanaugh and Gorsuch's decision](https://www.indy100.com/politics/joe-manchin-roe-v-wade)** > > Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV) who voted in favor of appointing Supreme Court Justices Brett Kavanaugh and Neil Gorsuch says he's "alarmed" the two voted in favor of overturning Roe v. WadeRoe v. Wade. "I trust Justice Gorsuch and Justice Kavanaugh when... ---
**Author:** ![smithsb](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smithsb/32/12107_2.png) [@smithsb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smithsb)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2022, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-clarence-thomas-led-supreme-court/967189/2 "2022-06-30T15:41:35Z")
Moving on to devastation of the climate. > **[The Supreme Court Just Fucked the Planet](https://gizmodo.com/supreme-court-west-virginia-epa-power-pollution-ruling-1849112254)** > > The court's decision in West Virginia v. EPA says that the agency effectively does not have the power to regulate carbon dioxide emissions from power plants. ---
**Author:** ![smithsb](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smithsb/32/12107_2.png) [@smithsb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smithsb)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2022, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-clarence-thomas-led-supreme-court/967189/3 "2022-06-30T15:46:18Z")
Thomas adjacent - Ginni news - First she says she will and then she won’t. > **[Ginni Thomas says she 'can't wait' to talk to Jan. 6 committee](https://www.reuters.com/world/us/head-congress-jan-6-committee-says-time-invite-ginni-thomas-talk-2022-06-16/)** > > Virginia "Ginni" Thomas, wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, is eager to appear before the congressional committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, she told the Daily Caller news website on Thursday. > **[Ginni Thomas Won’t Testify to Jan. 6 Committee, Lawyer Says — Here’s What We...](https://www.forbes.com/sites/alisondurkee/2022/06/29/ginni-thomas-wont-testify-to-jan-6-committee-lawyer-says---heres-what-we-know-about-her-efforts-to-overturn-the-election/?sh=732948977203)** > > Thomas had previously said she'd be willing to speak with the committee, but her attorney now says she doesn't believe lawmakers have a "sufficient basis" to seek her testimony. ---
**Author:** ![Aspenglow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspenglow/32/76_2.png) [@Aspenglow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspenglow)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2022, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-clarence-thomas-led-supreme-court/967189/4 "2022-06-30T15:57:35Z")
Thanks for starting this. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2022, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-clarence-thomas-led-supreme-court/967189/5 "2022-06-30T15:59:28Z")
Next session they’ll be hearing a case that can greatly affect elections. > **[How the Supreme Court could radically reshape elections for president and...](https://www.npr.org/2022/06/30/1107648753/supreme-court-north-carolina-redistricting-independent-state-legislature-theory)** > > The justices have agreed to hear a case next term about how much power state legislatures have over how congressional and presidential elections are run. It could upend election laws across the U.S. ---
**Author:** ![Aspenglow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspenglow/32/76_2.png) [@Aspenglow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspenglow)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2022, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-clarence-thomas-led-supreme-court/967189/6 "2022-06-30T16:05:46Z")
> [@smithsb](#): > > Moving on to devastation of the climate. I don’t think people have quite yet grasped just how bad this is. The SCOTUS have appointed themselves as the rulers over how climate change can be mitigated here in the US. Government is to basically have no role. A partial quote from the Gizmodo piece: > And the interests lining up behind this case are _powerful_. The [amicus briefs](https://www.supremecourt.gov/docket/docketfiles/html/public/20-1530.html) filed in support of the plaintiffs’ position read like a who’s who in organizations that have fought tooth and nail for polluters, including the Competitive Enterprise Institute, which has been a force in [spreading climate denial](https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/10/climate/nyt-climate-newsletter-cei.html), and the Americans for Prosperity Foundation, an advocacy group founded by the billionaire Koch brothers, arguably two of the most powerful pro-oil and gas political funders—and [spreaders of climate denial](https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/kochland-examines-how-the-koch-brothers-made-their-fortune-and-the-influence-it-bought)—in recent decades. Charles Koch himself, Graves said, was a notable driving force in creating the conditions for this case, as well as other cases that could be teed up before this court. Many of the judges currently sitting on the court were [nominated](https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/19/climate/supreme-court-climate-epa.html) thanks to campaigns funded by some of the same pro-pollution donors behind this case. And this landmark ruling may be just the beginning of their attempts to give even more freebies to polluters. > > “This case represents a victory for right-wing infrastructure that has been funded by Koch and other anonymous donors to try and strip away the power of our federal agencies to regulate industries, like Koch industries, the oil and gas industry, and more,” Graves said. I am left with a pit in my stomach that isn’t going to go away. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2022, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-clarence-thomas-led-supreme-court/967189/7 "2022-06-30T16:06:53Z")
That Clarence Thomas is being so aggressive in leading the court is a little weird, because before Scalia died, Thomas was famous for never asking questions in court. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2022, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-clarence-thomas-led-supreme-court/967189/8 "2022-06-30T16:09:12Z")
Not weird at all: Aggressive leadership and not asking questions are both due to having his mind already made up which way he’s going to rule. ---
**Author:** ![Aspenglow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspenglow/32/76_2.png) [@Aspenglow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspenglow)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2022, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-clarence-thomas-led-supreme-court/967189/9 "2022-06-30T16:14:39Z")
No, not weird at all. Clarence Thomas has been quietly seething on the bench for more than 20 years to even up the score against the whole country over Robert Bork and Anita Hill. Now he finally has the power, he intends to use it to the fullest. And there is little to no impediment by Roberts or any of the other partisan hacks appointed by the Federalist Society. This has been a danger for decades, and most Americans ignored it. Welcome to your new Amerika. ---
**Author:** ![SpacemanSpiff\_II](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e19adc/32.png) [@SpacemanSpiff\_II](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpacemanSpiff_II)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2022, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-clarence-thomas-led-supreme-court/967189/10 "2022-06-30T16:15:23Z")
> [@Aspenglow](#): > > I don’t think people have quite yet grasped just how bad this is. The SCOTUS have appointed themselves as the rulers over how climate change can be mitigated here in the US. Government is to basically have no role. This is incorrect. The ruling said that Congress can regulate it, or can explicitly delegate that authority to an agency. What they ruled against was an agency assuming that authority based on laws which don’t actually grant it. ---
**Author:** ![Aspenglow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspenglow/32/76_2.png) [@Aspenglow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspenglow)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2022, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-clarence-thomas-led-supreme-court/967189/11 "2022-06-30T16:21:44Z")
> [@SpacemanSpiff\_II](#): > > This is incorrect. > > The ruling said that Congress can regulate it, or can explicitly delegate that authority to an agency. Please don’t tell me what’s correct or incorrect in that decision, you muddle-headed partisan dipshit. The assholes did this knowing they have the power to shape and mold Congress at their whim. The practical effect, since you don’t care to observe this concern at all, is just as Justice Kagan’s dissent notes: > “Whatever else this Court may know about, it does not have a clue about how to address climate change,” Kagan wrote. “And let’s say the obvious: The stakes here are high. Yet the Court today prevents congressionally authorized agency action to curb power plants’ carbon dioxide emissions.” and > “The Court appoints itself—instead of Congress or the expert agency—the decisionmaker on climate policy. I cannot think of many things more frightening. Respectfully, I dissent." ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2022, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-clarence-thomas-led-supreme-court/967189/12 "2022-06-30T16:42:02Z")
Seems like a good place to put this rather than starting another new thread. She is jumping into that Frying Pan cited in the thread title. She won’t become active until the next session, but didn’t want to let this go unmentioned. Carry on. (Gift Link) > **[Ketanji Brown Jackson Becomes First Black Female Supreme Court Justice](https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/30/us/politics/ketanji-brown-jackson-sworn-in-supreme-court.html?unlocked_article_code=AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACEIPuomT1JKd6J17Vw1cRCfTTMQmqxCdw_PIxftm3iWka3DLDm0aiPkORJCH_0bRZKF4INg-wz2dRt4EOqUoW_o3zOZUPFdqTUyzvZyentEEJWAutJqpU2Y7mpnKQKoktz_2a23zYMFO-IqChTPUej6hHa_CzyVhYVY0_Md4cVz52XQKzvzaELR0ic153ax2GpF-QmwfYHGAt6LiCRUqPY3VfQicvldtI5xRWz3QlNaW67ISIk4FWR-dEiQJsStr48hcOdgXIK_7MxQiHcL6ir8aAWdqR5y7U9xzH8OH0uU37sOe7ECE28G0xP4pFatLvrqismmyNlYnS7r-L0zuTJcQOkwmE4wr1wdFFy3g&smid=url-share)** > > Her confirmation comes as the newly expanded conservative majority moves to give states more control. God have mercy on her. ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2022, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-clarence-thomas-led-supreme-court/967189/13 "2022-06-30T16:43:40Z")
> [@Aspenglow](#): > > I am left with a pit in my stomach that isn’t going to go away. We have the tools to stop all this. The Dems need to state an explicit platform that they will end the filibuster and pack the court if given a mandate through a Manchin-proof majority, and people must get out and vote for that. ---
**Author:** ![Aspenglow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspenglow/32/76_2.png) [@Aspenglow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspenglow)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2022, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-clarence-thomas-led-supreme-court/967189/14 "2022-06-30T16:56:07Z")
Thank you, and you’re right. I intend to work as hard as I previously worked to get people to understand how important it was to vote for Democrats for president and all the way down the ticket, in every election held right down to dog catcher, even ones they didn’t like, because of the outsize power of today’s SCOTUS. Hopefully it will have a greater effect. It sure didn’t before. The time for alarm was when Republicans pushed to stop funding public schools and instead force tax payers to pay for private and charter schools. The time for alarm was when SCOTUS upheld _McCutcheon_ and _Citizens United_. The time for alarm was when we barely noticed Russian subversion into our 2016 election. The time for alarm was when McConnell chose to not bring Garland’s nomination to the floor for a vote. The time for alarm was when McConnell did not withdraw the beer drinker/college rapist from consideration on the Court. The time for alarm was when McConnell forced the appointment of Coney Barrett. So here we are. I hope finally, we will vote for Democrats and only Democrats like our lives depend on it. Because they do. I also hope people will finally begin to identify and call out fascism wherever they see it – because that’s where we are. We’re fighting fascism. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2022, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-clarence-thomas-led-supreme-court/967189/15 "2022-06-30T16:56:57Z")
Putting money on “The Republicans expand the court to 13 by 2028, giving haters a 10-3 majority.” ---
**Author:** ![SpacemanSpiff\_II](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e19adc/32.png) [@SpacemanSpiff\_II](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpacemanSpiff_II)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2022, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-clarence-thomas-led-supreme-court/967189/16 "2022-06-30T17:03:28Z")
> [@Aspenglow](#): > > Please don’t tell me what’s correct or incorrect in that decision, you muddle-headed partisan dipshit. I’m sorry, but you misrepresented the majority decision in that case. ---
**Author:** ![Aspenglow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspenglow/32/76_2.png) [@Aspenglow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspenglow)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2022, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-clarence-thomas-led-supreme-court/967189/17 "2022-06-30T17:04:01Z")
But not the practical effect. And that’s what matters to most Americans. The reasoning they used is as poor as the reasoning in overturning _Roe_. This is not the SCOTUS we’ve had for its entire history, and your efforts to pretend otherwise are pathetic. ---
**Author:** ![SpacemanSpiff\_II](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e19adc/32.png) [@SpacemanSpiff\_II](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpacemanSpiff_II)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2022, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-clarence-thomas-led-supreme-court/967189/18 "2022-06-30T17:10:18Z")
But that’s - at best - speculation by you as to what they will do in the future. It’s not what they ruled today, which is how you presented it here. ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2022, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-clarence-thomas-led-supreme-court/967189/19 "2022-06-30T17:13:07Z")
> [@Aspenglow](#): > > Thank you, and you’re right. I intend to work as hard as I previously worked to get people to understand how important it was to vote for Democrats for president and all the way down the ticket, in every election held right down to dog catcher, even ones they didn’t like, because of the outsize power of today’s SCOTUS. As I always say, it’s all about the local. I don’t donate time or money to national elections, but I do donate money and time to local offices. I think I make a difference there, as opposed to being overpowered by all the influences in a national race. If I can get someone to go out to vote for the local dog catcher, then they are going to vote upticket as well. If I waste my time getting someone to go out to vote for a Senator, then they won’t know or care who to vote for dog catcher. > [@Aspenglow](#): > > So here we are. I hope finally, we will vote for Democrats and only Democrats like our lives depend on it. Because they do. Eh, all those alarms… I will point out that one of the reasons for the TMI incident is because of too many alarms. > [@Aspenglow](#): > > I also hope people will finally begin to identify and call out fascism wherever they see it – because that’s where we are. We’re fighting fascism. Sure do. Even though I get pushback from those who either claim that I am using hyperbole or being insulting when I do. The same person can scream and yell about how Demonrats are Marxist and Communist and Anti-American, and then get all into a huff that you said that Trump is a fascist. ---
**Author:** ![Aspenglow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspenglow/32/76_2.png) [@Aspenglow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspenglow)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2022, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-clarence-thomas-led-supreme-court/967189/20 "2022-06-30T17:20:59Z")
Honestly, I don’t know how you stand it. Thanks for the points you made. They’re all good. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-clarence-thomas-led-supreme-court/967189.md?page=2)