The court is expected to weigh in on same-sex marriage next session, which it legalized in 2015

Settled legal precedent in the US is not “gospel” and in some instances may have been “something somebody dreamt up and others went along with”, the US supreme court justice Clarence Thomas has said.

Thomas – part of the conservative supermajority that has taken hold of the supreme court over Donald Trump’s two presidencies – delivered those comments Thursday at the Catholic University of America’s Columbus School of Law in Washington DC, ABC News and other outlets reported. His remarks preceded the nine-month term that the supreme court is scheduled to begin on 6 October.

“I don’t think that … any of these cases that have been decided are the gospel,” Thomas said during the rare public appearance, invoking a term which in a religious context is often used to refer to the word of God. “And I do give perspective to the precedent. But … 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.”

Among the various cases Thomas and his colleagues are expected to weigh in on is a request to overturn the 2015 Obergefell supreme court decision that legalized marriage for same-sex couples nationwide. Other cases being mulled by the supreme court for its 2025-2026 term involve tariffs, trans rights, campaign finance law, religious rights and capital punishment.

Pretty sure everyone had this on their bingo cards.

        • sad_detective_man@sopuli.xyzEnglish
          1·
          23 hours ago

          sure ¯\_ (ツ) _/¯ let’s get all Camu absurd with it. Maybe then whatever it is will be less psychicaly damaging than if he does just like declare the president is immune to some charge that’s likely to come up. or repeals protections of some basic human right or other.

          • t3rmit3@beehaw.org
            2·
            22 hours ago

            They’re going to declare that the US revolution was leftist terrorism, is illegitimate, and Trump is the legitimate heir to the British crown so he has authority over Britain at the same time as being King of the US.

            And demand Google Maps rename Britain and the US to The United Kingdom of America.