Why Clarence Thomas is 'history’s worst Supreme Court justice': Robert Reich

Former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich has come to a conclusion. While he once thought the worst Supreme Court justice was Samuel Alito — who authored the death of Roe v. Wade — he has since amended his position. Now, he asserts that “bitter, angry, severe hard-right, intellectually dishonest ideologue” Clarence Thomas “is even worse than Alito.”

Reich says he came to this conclusion following a recent speech by Thomas in which he was ostensibly praising the Declaration of Independence, but ended up delivering a “misleading screed against progressivism.” In the speech, Thomas claimed that progressives were to blame for history’s worst crimes, insisting that Stalin, Hitler, Mussolini and Mao were all “intertwined with the rise of progressivism.”

“This is pure rubbish,” writes Reich, going on to explain that not only is much of the basic history proffered by Thomas regarding the roots of progressivism outright wrong, but rather than contributing to authoritarianism, “Progressive and New Deal reforms acted as bulwarks against the rise of fascism in America.” He argues that progressive policies “saved capitalism from its own excesses by instituting a progressive income tax, an estate tax, pure food and drug laws and America’s first laws against corporate influence in politics,” then provided the labor protections necessary for workers to improve their quality of life.

“Clarence Thomas got it exactly backward,” says Reich. “Had we not had the Progressive Era and its reforms extending through the 1930s, America might well have succumbed to fascism — as did Germany under Hitler and Italy under Mussolini, or to communist fascism, as did Russia under Stalin.”

He went on to point out that many of these progressive gains were rolled back under subsequent Republican administrations, then noted that not only has Thomas displayed an inaccurate appraisal of history, but he’s proven his disregard for judicial ethics. As an example, Reich cites Thomas’s repeated participation in cases tied to the 2020 election results, even though his wife, Ginni, was directly involved with efforts to overturn the election.

Thomas’s wife, writes Reich, “actively strategized with White House chief of staff Mark Meadows on overturning the election results. Between Election Day 2020 and the days following the January 6 attack on the Capitol, she exchanged 29 text messages with Meadows, in which she spread false theories about the election, urged Meadows to overturn the election results, and called for specific actions from the White House to help overturn the election. She also served as one of nine board members of a group that helped lead the ‘Stop the Steal’ movement and called for the punishment of House Republicans who participated in the U.S. House Select Committee investigating the January 6 attack.”

Even so, Thomas presided over several related cases, refusing to disqualify himself.

What’s more, says Reich, Thomas bears other blatant conflicts of interest. At the opening of his speech attacking progressives, Thomas noted that, “My wife Virginia and I have many wonderful friends and acquaintances here, and it is so special to have our dear friends Harlan and Kathy Crow join us today.” This is a reference to a “Republican mega-donor who has spent the last 20 years lavishing Thomas with personal gifts, luxury yacht trips, fancy vacations, and funding for Ginni Thomas’s political organization.”

“Hence,” concludes Reich, “he’s my nominee for the worst justice in modern Supreme Court history.”

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