U.S. Supreme Court
People in Washington know right thing to do but lack courage, Justice Thomas says
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas answers questions during a visit to the University of Texas at Austin in Austin, Texas, on April 15. (Photo by Eric Gay/The Associated Press)
Washington, D.C., is full of people who know the right thing to do but lack courage, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas said Wednesday.
“It is not because we lack the intellect or the capacity or the talent,” Thomas said at the University of Texas at Austin. “Instead, there are too few people willing to do what it takes to do the right thing, to sacrifice the popularity, flattery, comfort and security that are the purchase price for principle.”
Thomas has served on the nation’s highest court for 34 years. He said leaders too often dilute their principles, claiming pragmatism or institutionalism, rather than acting bravely on what they know to be right, according to a story by Law.com.
Thomas was also asked to reflect on his past comments describing friendships among the justices considering today’s increasingly polarized climate, according to a story by the Hill.
“When I said a lot of that, it was when I first went to the court,” Thomas said. “That was a different court. That was a court that was a World War II generation.”
Thomas discussed the late Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, who revived a tradition of the justices eating lunch together and advocated for civics education. She “gets way too little credit for what she did,” Thomas said.
“These were people who respected—they were more in that tradition of a civil society and would listen to different points of view,” he said. “I think this generation of kids—they’re in a different world.”
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