We all know that since Donald Trump has been elected, that hate crimes have increased. Trump himself has used inflammatory language, and ever since his rise to prominence, hate crimes have followed him. Hell, counties that had Trump rallies had increases in violence. But that’s not all that unsurprising, is it?
But now we have one of the quietest SCOTUS judges, Clarence Thomas, saying some very damned dangerous things. And it’s not just what he says, but what he cites. See, Thomas says that the Supreme Court doesn’t need to always uphold precedent. He thinks that just because stare decisis is standard, it could be ignored based on “judicial duty”. So yeah, just because Roe v. Wade was decided back in the 1970s doesn’t mean that SCOTUS should use that as precedent when deciding further cases on abortion.
What’s really troubling, however, is the case that Thomas used to push his point. He chose Obergefell v. Hodges. Not familiar with Obergefell? That’s the case that struck down all equal marriage laws that were enshrined across most of the nation. So when an anti-LGBT+ case goes before the Supreme Court, Thomas is saying that the Justices don’t have to use Obergefell v. Hodges as precedent when ruling. Hell, you could even go farther and say that Obergefell v. Hodges shouldn’t have been decided the way that it was, if judges based their decision on Loving v. Virginia, the case that got rid of outdated interracial marriage laws.
Judge Thomas himself is in an interracial marriage. And he also voted with the minority in Obergefell v. Hodges. Oh, irony, thy name is Clarence.
You know what? I really don’t care who Judge Thomas is married to, though. I care that he’s a bigot whose outdated views belong in the 1800s.