After this term's oral arguments concluded, the justices of the Supreme Court traveled the nation over the weekend, offering an unparalleled barrage of remarks to the public. During a Texas visit, Justice Brett Kavanaugh said that mutual respect, consistency, and openness are the best ways to build public trust in the legal system. Justice Samuel Alito encouraged recent Ohioan graduates to "go boldly and engage the world" on Saturday while defending their convictions, according to the Washington Post. Speaking at a judicial symposium in Alabama, Justice Clarence Thomas took an other tack.
Thomas tore into what he termed "the nastiness and the lies" that he and his wife, Ginni, had to put up with, without really addressing the moral dilemmas he is had to deal with over his behavior. "There is certainly been a lot of negativity in our lives, my wife and I, over the last few years, but we choose not to focus on it," he told the New York Times. Thomas said of the country's capital, "It is a hideous place." In Washington, he said, individuals "pride themselves on being awful." Gifts and trips funded by billionaires, together with Thomas's reluctance to step down from cases on January 6th despite his wife's efforts to void the results of the 2020 presidential election, are the subjects of criticism and concerns over his behavior.
Thomas said that he wished he had accepted a nomination to the Supreme Court rather than continuing in his previous position on the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. This one issue may particularly irritate Thomas's critics. "Had I known more about the court, I would have stayed on the DC Circuit," Thomas said, expressing his lack of interest in the public eye at the moment but his sense of divine calling. "I really would have preferred, if I could be selfish, to be on the DC Circuit," remarked Thomas. "I think this court is a bit tougher of a haul."
Thomas tore into what he termed "the nastiness and the lies" that he and his wife, Ginni, had to put up with, without really addressing the moral dilemmas he is had to deal with over his behavior. "There is certainly been a lot of negativity in our lives, my wife and I, over the last few years, but we choose not to focus on it," he told the New York Times. Thomas said of the country's capital, "It is a hideous place." In Washington, he said, individuals "pride themselves on being awful." Gifts and trips funded by billionaires, together with Thomas's reluctance to step down from cases on January 6th despite his wife's efforts to void the results of the 2020 presidential election, are the subjects of criticism and concerns over his behavior.
Thomas said that he wished he had accepted a nomination to the Supreme Court rather than continuing in his previous position on the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. This one issue may particularly irritate Thomas's critics. "Had I known more about the court, I would have stayed on the DC Circuit," Thomas said, expressing his lack of interest in the public eye at the moment but his sense of divine calling. "I really would have preferred, if I could be selfish, to be on the DC Circuit," remarked Thomas. "I think this court is a bit tougher of a haul."
