I was quite explicit about what I was referring to, and it had absolutely nothing to do with affirmative action. Reread the post, if you're inclined.President Bush wrote: ↑Sun May 26, 2024 2:07 amBrown vs Board of Education got Justice Thomas his job? What a bizarre thing to say and even more so to suggest that's how Thomas would regard things. As a judge he has attacked the idea of affirmative action over and over, assuming that's what you're referring to.Meadmaker wrote: ↑Sat May 25, 2024 5:42 pmI think he would be more offended about being informed that he criticized the landmark ruling that got him his job.President Bush wrote: ↑Sat May 25, 2024 2:13 pm
I kind of doubt Justice Thomas would appreciate somebody claiming he said that. On the other hand, maybe he'd like being the subject of a story for children.
As for the rest, Thomas is quoting his own opinion in Jenkins.
“[s]uch extravagant uses of judicial power are at odds with the history and tradition of the equity power and the Framers’ design.” Jenkins, 515 U. S., at 125–126 (opinion of THOMAS, J.).
That opinion itself is interesting reading, for those who like that sort of thing. https://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/93-1823.ZC1.html
Now....to the larger point, and the reason I cited that as an article that I could tell was misleading or stupid, even before reading the article. Even before reading the article, I said that, at most, there might have been some phrase that Thomas did not like, or there might have been some complaint about how the ruling was applied. The headline makes you want to believe that somehow, Thomas thinks segregated schools are acceptable under the constitution. That's bullsht. Thomas thinks Brown got it right.
However, he thinks subsequent courts took it too far. It's spelled out more thoroughly in the Jenkins opinion.
It could be said that there was a mild rebuke of the opinion in Brown II. (There were two separate Brown v Board of Education opinions issued, one in 1954 and one in 1955. I wasn't awre of that until I read about this article.) It could also be said that he didn't like all of the reasoning or justification in Brown I. While he absolutely approves of and supports the ruling in Brown, unequivically, he suggests in Jenkins that some of the justification was unnecessary and subsequently misused.
The Axios article paints a much different picture. It's highly misleading, as I expected simply from the headine.