Clarence Thomas says abortion leak has changed Supreme Court

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP

By JESSICA GRESKO

WASHINGTON (AP) — Justice Clarence Thomas says the Supreme Court has been changed by the shocking leak of a draft opinion earlier this month. The opinion suggests the court is poised to overturn the right to an abortion recognized nearly 50 years ago in Roe v. Wade.

The conservative Thomas, who joined the court in 1991 and has long called for Roe v. Wade to be overturned, described the leak as an unthinkable breach of trust.

“When you lose that trust, especially in the institution that I’m in, it changes the institution fundamentally. You begin to look over your shoulder. It’s like kind of an infidelity that you can explain it, but you can’t undo it,” he said while speaking at a conference Friday evening in Dallas.

The court has said the draft does not represent the final position of any of the court’s members, and Chief Justice John Roberts has ordered an investigation into the leak.



FILE - Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas speaks Sept. 16, 2021, at the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Ind. Thomas says the Supreme Court has been changed by the leak of a draft opinion earlier this month. The opinion suggests the court is poised to overturn the right to an abortion recognized nearly 50 years ago in Roe v. Wade. The conservative Thomas, who joined the court in 1991 and has long called for Roe v. Wade to be overturned, described the leak as an unthinkable breach of trust. (Robert Franklin/South Bend Tribune via AP, File)


Read more: https://apnews.com/article/abortion-us-supreme-court-clarence-thomas-e08bbdfbe48d33171fa6f2a17931da63

[Maine Abu El Banat]

1. The right leaked this decision!

So they could play their false equivalency card with the Jan 6 rioters

[groundloop]

51. Probably Brett Kavanaugh.... he was Ken Starr's designated leaker

Ken Starr used selective leaks to smear Bill Clinton during the Whitewater investigation, and it's come out that Brett Kavanaugh was the person giving this information to reporters seen as friendly to the right. Kavanaugh knows how this game is played.

https://www.nationalmemo.com/brett-kavanaugh-exposed-ken-starr-designated-leaker

[Meadowoak]

2. Fuck you Clarence Thomas! You lying, cheating, self serving piece of shit.

[twodogsbarking]

10. Well stated. Factual and concise.

[FarPoint]

16. Has anyone ever told him....

That he was a Black man? Maybe he should go on the PBS Show, " Finding Your Roots".

[Trueblue1968]

86. i hate his guts and i wish he was .... gone to meet his maker (SATAN)

[bucolic_frolic]

3. Last week he said the Court won't be steamrolled

Now it's changed forever. Make up your fool mind!

[Lovie777]

4. You and your 5 GQP justices have changed the US SC for the absolute worst . ..

STFU.

[Comfortably_Numb]

5. Having a wife that advocated for the overthrow of the US government has changed the court.

Fuck off Clarence. All the way off.

[SouthernDem4ever]

25. Seriously, he must think his constituents are that stupid

well, some of them are, obviously.

[mopinko]

32. he doesnt have constituents. he's not elected.

[SouthernDem4ever]

36. seems he forgot that.

He is trying to please someone instead of using common sense.

[Rebl2]

45. YEP

[Comfortably_Numb]

44. He thinks they are all as stupid and whiny as he is. Full stop.

[3Hotdogs]

6. Hey Clar...... I wouldn't want to work in a place that ya can't even trust your colleagues in.

If I were you, I'd submit a complaint to Human Resources and then quit.


So I guess Gin-Gin wasn't the leaker after all. I apologize for suggesting it was her.

[electric_blue68]

84. Gin-Gin? 😂

traitor!

[OldBaldy1701E]

7. Oh, you mean like the breach of trust that you embraced

By plotting to overturn a legal precedent just to placate your reich-wing oligarch owners? The person who leaked that information is a hero as far as I am concerned. And you lot need to watch yourselves. The breach of trust has been happening for a long while now and I am afraid the current powerbrokers can not hope to outnumber the pissed off masses. But, will we do anything about this? I prefer not to answer due to my massive cynicism over the concept of 'justice' in this country.

[LiberalFighter]

8. The leak didn't change the court. Him and corrupt ilk like him changed it.

[Paladin]

24. +1000. (nt)

[azureblue]

43. the change was

when three future justices lied in hearings. That means they will lie about anything. That, you toad, is what changed the court. Tom is all mad because the SC was exposed as a partisan corrupt institution. And his wife a fascist who wants to overthrow the government.

[niyad]

88. Five lied. Him. alito. and then the unholy trump trio.

[Bluethroughu]

9. The Supreme Court has changed by maybe,

1. An insurrectionist spouse sitting on it
2. Judges appointed after they have committed perjury for the appointment.
3. Acting and scheming as political activists for one party, over rule of law.

[SamKnause]

11. Fuck you fuck you fuck you.

You changed the Supreme Court.

Your wife changed the Supreme Court.

Mitch McConnell changed the Supreme Court.

Trump changed the Supreme Court.

The FBI not investigating Bret Kavanaugh changed the Supreme Court.

Fuck all of you anti democratic scum !!!!!!!!

[dixiechiken1]

12. YEAH to what Sam said... ☝️☝️☝️

+ lots more FUCK YOUs.

[SamKnause]

14. ...

Fuckin A !!!!

[COL Mustard]

30. And fuck his fucking fucks.

He's a real fucker. Fuck him.

[Pachamama]

13. +1000000 times more FU's to them all

[SamKnause]

15. ...

Fuckin A !!!!

[Ferretherder]

75. Look, dude..

...I don't fuckin' lurk on this fuckin' site to fuckin' read a bunch of fuckin' cursing and fuckin' potty-mouth garbage like this fuckin' shit! Clean this fuckin' conversation the fuck up or I'm fuckin' outta' here! Fuckin' capice?!

...but yeah, fuck him!

[dchill]

61. Thank you! Exactly.

[FreepFryer]

17. Prosecutorially speaking, you should be looking over your shoulder. You're bullshit, Thomas.

The court has shone a light on its own disrespect for the law.

[milestogo]

18. You have cheapened the Supreme Court

and your wife is a disgrace.

[hay rick]

19. The big change is the reputation the Supreme Court inherited has been replaced by what it has earned

[Shermann]

20. Here here! Oppressors shouldn't have to look over their shoulder while oppressing.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

21. Adding a link

COURTS & LAW

Clarence Thomas says Supreme Court leak has eroded trust in institution

‘You begin to look over your shoulder. It’s like kind of an infidelity,’ he said in speech to conservatives.

By Robert Barnes
Today at 7:50 a.m. EDT

The leak of a draft opinion regarding abortion has turned the Supreme Court into a place “where you look over your shoulder,” Justice Clarence Thomas said Friday night, and it may have irreparably sundered trust at the institution. ... “What happened at the court was tremendously bad,” Thomas said in a conversation with a former law clerk at a conference of conservative and libertarian thinkers in Dallas. “I wonder how long we’re going to have these institutions at the rate we’re undermining them. And then I wonder when they’re gone or destabilized, what we’re going to have as a country.” ... It was second time in a week that Thomas has decried declining respect for “institutions” — he made similar remarks at a conference of judges and lawyers last week.

{snip}

He made the remarks Friday night at a conference sponsored by the American Enterprise Institute, the Manhattan Institute and the Hoover Institution. In front of an approving crowd, he was pointed and accusatory; he seemed to blame law clerks who work at the court for the leak of a draft opinion by Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. that would overturn Roe v. Wade, and he appeared distrustful of some of his colleagues.

{snip}

Thomas was in conversation with a former law clerk, John Yoo, a professor at the University of California at Berkeley. Yoo did not ask the justice about recent controversies involving Thomas’s wife Virginia “Ginni” Thomas, who was a staunch defender of President Donald Trump and whose texts with Trump’s chief of staff regarding legal schemes to challenge Trump’s 2020 election loss have come to light. ... Before those numerous texts were published by The Washington Post and CBS News, Thomas was the only member of the court to side with Trump’s request to withhold White House documents from the congressional committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the Capitol. Thomas did not explain his vote in the court’s short order denying Trump’s emergency request, and Democrats in Congress have cited his participation as evidence of a need for a stringent ethics and recusal code at the Supreme Court.

Thomas briefly recounted battles with the left, which he said tried to keep him off the court “because of abortion.” While saying at his confirmation hearing that he had never considered the correctness of Roe, Thomas joined an opinion just months later saying the precedent should be overturned. ... Thomas said conservatives have never employed the harsh tactics of the left. ...“You would never visit Supreme Court justices’ houses when things didn’t go our way,” Thomas said. “We didn’t throw temper tantrums. I think it is incumbent on us to always act appropriately and not repay tit for tat.” ... Asked if conservatives were living up to the “mantra” of civility in politics, he said: “They’ve never trashed a Supreme Court nominee. The most they can point to is Garland did not get a hearing, but he was not trashed.”

{snip}

By Robert Barnes
Robert Barnes has been a Washington Post reporter and editor since 1987. He joined The Post to cover Maryland politics, and he has served in various editing positions, including metropolitan editor and national political editor. He has covered the Supreme Court since November 2006. Twitter https://twitter.com/scotusreporter

[mountain grammy]

23. "we don't throw temper tantrums"

What the fuck was January 6th you lying piece of shit?

[Paladin]

26. No temper tantrums?

So I guess that prolonged "High Tech Lynching" whine that Thomas unleashed at his hearings is supposed to have never happened?

Asshole.

[madaboutharry]

22. The Supreme Court is the betrayer.

The five Justices who have signed onto this atrocity are the betrayers.

The Supreme Court is guilty of infidelity to the American People. The job of Justices on The Supreme Court is to protect the Constitutional rights of all people living in The United States. The stripping of a long held Constitutional right because five people have extreme religious views that they are choosing to impose on everyone else is nothing short of a monumental betrayal of all people and of the Constitution itself. Alito's pathetic opinion in which he reaches for absurd rationalizations is what has caused damage to the court.

The Supreme Court has turned itself into political action committee. And it is no one's fault but their own.

[2naSalit]

27. Poor baby! It's such an awful feeling...

When your victims let you know that they smell the stink on your shit and start showing up with shovels.

[Emile]

28. You and your fascist buddies changed the Supreme Court.

Clarence needs to find something else to whine about!

[KS Toronado]

29. The reason he used the term "infidelity"

is because he knows Ginni done it.

[BlueWavePsych]

31. K&R

[Eyeball_Kid]

33. Cry me a river, Clarence.

He gets no sympathy from this quarter. An even better kind of change would be a Supreme Court without Clarence. Ginnie deserves the "traitor" designation, and Clarence complains about a lack of trust and camaraderie. What a fraud.

[niyad]

34. I find it fascinating that the lump silently occupying one of the 9 seats is suddenly

extremely vocal, the traitorous predator.

[electric_blue68]

83. Yeah, really after all these years! 😑🙄 ....

I always called him "The Dullard".

[Achilleaze]

35. Reject the Project ion

Repubes need to own their own duplicity, or no salvation for them.

[dlk]

37. Yes, Alito's draft opinion has confirmed his extreme misogyny and poor quality jurisprudence

Alito’s zealotry has now been revealed, for all the world to see. The court has breached our trust of certain justices doing their duty, and protecting our Constitutional rights. Instead they are poised to strip them away. This is what fascism looks like.

[BumRushDaShow]

38. "When you lose that trust, especially in the institution that I'm in"

That "trust" was lost when ilk like YOU were confirmed to replace this masterful man -



It would take 30 years before another AA would finally be confirmed to the SCOTUS.

I look forward to this woman giving you the side-eye when she gets in there -

[electric_blue68]

85. The side-eye, bwah! 👍

[IronLionZion]

39. Maybe don't tell your wife anything

and see if the leaks stop

[Texin]

40. It didn't change it. It REVEALED it.l

[PurgedVoter]

41. Unthinkable breach of trust? Oh, Clarence, how the tail doth wag the dog.

Clarence Thomas is probably covering his leaks to his wife since conservatives tend to point at others when they are committing crimes. I wonder how many crimes Thomas has remained silent to since he can since his wife is a criminal. The problems will really start when he starts commuting crimes made by his wife and friends.

As far as leaks go, Roe V Wade was leaked, Watergate, Bush V Gore, and oh so many others. Not a constant thing, and unless you are Supreme Court Justice, you tend to lose your job over this, but this isn't new.

Apparently after ten years of silence, Clarence Thomas can't shut up. Who wants to bet it is cover for all the little things he has been sharing with his wife?

And the opinion that was leaked, that got Clarence so defensive? That is a misogynistic breach of trust from the beginning to the end. In a way, this leak is a huge, huge one. This leak gave us more than just a glimpse. This leak showed the contrived, polarized, sexist, ultra-conservative, and even medieval type of argument that is probably typical of the internal arguments produced and shared by the conservative majority of our Supreme Court.

[roamer65]

42. Bush v Gore destroyed any trust I had in it.

[myohmy2]

46. no Clarence...

...you and your right-wing co-conspirators have fundamentally changed the institution...

...there is no good reason to overturn Roe other than to serve your extreme right-wing political agenda...

...shameful...

[LeftInTX]

47. Trust and respect are earned

[area51]

48. Sexual harasser Thomas, with an insurrectionist wife

sez what?

[ancianita]

49. Then RESIGN, hater.

[turbinetree]

50. Again how did you get on the bench.......rumor has it you LIED....is it true......

and now you are a sniveling self serving asshole that goes on some conference headed by another asshole that somehow came up with a some legal bs item that it was just fine and dandy to torture people......you know you would fit right in with Orban and Erdogan .......just fucking resign.........and take your seditionist supporting wife with you ....

[AverageOldGuy]

52. Not exactly . . .

The Court has been changed by:
-- The appointment of dimwits such as Thomas and Barret and frat boys such as Beer-Bong Kavanaugh.
-- The reign of Moscow Mitch.

[bluestarone]

53. RELIGION changed this court!

CORRUPT to the core! The leak is exactly what was needed! FUCK M ALL! TOP court of the land is part of our future problems. We need to be ready for it, mostly at ELECTION time!!

[walkingman]

56. I totally agree. More specifically Christianity.

[Hekate]

72. Not normal Christianity, but cults like Opus Dei and People of Praise. Be clear on that.

[patphil]

54. All puffed up and self-righteous.

Let's make it about the leak and not about what the "draft opinion" said.
No problem stripping 10's of millions of women of their right to control their own bodies; that isn't important.
It's all about how the leak has damaged the court.
This court has self-damaged.
We now have an ultra-right wing, partisan court that cares little for the rights guaranteed by the constitution. Slavery was abolished by the 13th amendment, unless you're a pregnant woman. The 1st amendment insures against religion becoming part of government, but that is exactly what the anti-abortion movement is doing.

If the SC followed the constitution, they would declare all anti-abortion laws unconstitutional, and that the decision to abort a fetus should be based on medical science.
Abortion should be allowed until the fetus is able to take an independent breath outside the womb. Even the bible talks about God breathing life into the newborn.
That's when the spirit is breathed into the body.

[KPN]

55. Sounds like that's a good thing with you and your illegitimate cohorts taking up space in that

"institution".

[ananda]

57. Why is he even given serious air space?

He's the most worthless, craven piece of shit asshole....

[NCjack]

58. If Thomas will resign, that would improve the integrity of the Court.

[maliaSmith]

59. Clarence Thomas lies

Never forget that Clarence Thomas put a pubic hair on Anita Hill's can of soda.
That's who is on SCOTUS. Plus he and his wife worked to overturn our national election and keep Trump installed as a dictator. He then voted No on giving WH documents to Congress to protect his traitorous wife.

We need to expand SCOTUS so each district federal court (now 13) is represented by a Supreme Court Justice.

[twodogsbarking]

65. Anita Hill took a polygraph test. Thomas would not.

[BlueIdaho]

60. Maybe he should retire then. nt.

[pnwmom]

62. Yeah, it must be awful when your own wife betrays you like that, with her rightwing buddies. n/t

[capechacon]

63. Oh, dear oh dear, Clarence...

...you can just cry me a f*****g river.

Compared to the huge degree of damage to women's rights that you and your mouth-breathing ilk on the court are about to perpetrate, your pain about a "changed court" amounts to a less than a pimple on your traitorous wife's fat butt.

And one other thing, please do the country a favor...go soak your head and then figure out a way to get your useless, ignorant self off the Supreme Court.

[llashram]

64. to hell with this clown

when he's not asleep on the bench he and his wife are drafting speeches like this, to everlasting hell uncle Clarence. He will be coming after massive changes in how Americans can vote and enjoy our brand of Democratic, progressive freedoms and sought after reforms. I bet he and Ginni already have those speeches drafted.

[PSPS]

66. Actually, it was thomas himself who "changed the Supreme Court"

One tenet every law school student is supposed to learn is that any question presented to a judge has only one "correct" decision, based on previous cases and their reasoning. This is why decisions are so painstakingly explained. Using past decisions as a guide, there can be only one "correct" outcome.

Thomas and his ilk are not judges but, rather, ideologues who do this backwards. They start what they want the decision to be and then work backwards with twisted logic to put a flimsy patina of logic on their "reasoning" to make it "sound logical." Alito's ridiculous leaked decision exemplifies this perfectly.

[CrispyQ]

67. Welcome to the club, asshole.

Women are already looking over their shoulders, with all these bounty hunter anti-abortion laws where people will spy on us in an effort to try to make $10k.

I fucking hate these people.

[Skittles]

68. oh NOW he is concerned about privacy?

FUCK that fascist piece of SHIT

[Marthe48]

69. I'd like to see the s.c. change more

such as thomas retiring to spend more time with his wife

scalia resigning to join any right wing church, his true calling

kegger resigning because there is a legitimate investigation into reports of his assaulting women

barbie resigning because she has an epiphany (not the same as an orgasm) and realizes she is not worthy to sit on this particular bench

gorsuck because he too has an epiphany and realizes how f*cked up it was how he got on the s.c.

[vapor2]

70. Thomas should answer Hakeem Jeffrie's

question on why he has so much hate.

[Hekate]

71. Tough shit, Clarence. All it's done is rip the stained robes off 6 of your nekkid hides...

… so we can all see what you really are. And it ain’t pretty.

[FreepFryer]

73. Clarence did it (Nt)

[leftyladyfrommo]

74. Loading the court with rightwing radicals is what

changed the court. It's a radical rightwing mess.

[Warpy]

76. Let's hope that means he's not getting his way

and that others on the bench read Alito's fine ecclesiastical screed and realized it wasn't a legal opinion in any sense of the word and changed their minds because they really don't want to go down the path of theocratic dictatorship.

After all, it might not be their preacher doing the dictating.

[dlk]

77. The draft opinion leak revealed the Supreme Court

And not in a good way.

[tonekat]

78. Sorry Clarabelle...

The Court has been betraying the people of the U.S. for years. Besides, as has been said, this was leaked by the right.

[Martin68]

79. Clarence Thomas and his ilk have changed the court beyond recognition with the help of

McConnell, who blocked one Democratic nominee, and railroaded a conservative political hack into the slot 8 days before Trump lost the election.

[Haggis 4 Breakfast]

80. Excuse me Clarence,

But we lost TRUST the moment you were seated on SCOTUS.

[samsingh]

81. he was okay with the insurrection because i guess his wife was part of it

[tavernier]

82. Yes, because your sly and sneaky attempts at sabotage

have been discovered.

Boo Hoo.

[Deminpenn]

87. He should've thought about that before his wife leaked

the memo. And it meant to box in Roberts from getting a majority not to overturn Roe.

[GoldandSilver]

89. His Supreme Court didn"t change

Only our opinion of it changed.

Screw you Clarence and Virginia Thomas, along with the scumbags that support you.