Here’s why Justice Clarence Thomas is our nation’s greatest Justice. During a Q&A session at a recent event at Catholic University Law School, Justice Thomas explained how much deference to give precedent (that is stare decisis or following previous decisions) in a manner that… pic.twitter.com/NCrBIXomys
— Mark Paoletta (@MarkPaoletta) September 29, 2025
During a Q&A session at a recent event at Catholic University Law School, Justice Thomas explained how much deference to give precedent (that is stare decisis or following previous decisions) in a manner that was not filled with inaccessible legal terms but in language any American could understand – and hit the mark perfectly.
According to news reports, Justice Thomas explained, “It's not some sort of automatic deal where you can just say, ‘Stare decisis,’ and then turn off the brain.”
In describing stare decisis as a long train where decisions are new train cars hooked onto the long train, Thomas said, “We never go to the front to see who's driving the train or where it is going, and you could go up there to the engine room and find out it’s an orangutan,” Thomas said.
He also added, “I don’t think that I have the gospel—that any of these cases that have been decided are the gospel—and I do give perspective to the precedent. But it 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.”
In a book I co-edited, titled Created Equal: Clarence Thomas in His Own Words, which is based on 26 hours of interviews with the Justice on his life and jurisprudence, Justice Thomas had this to say about stare decisis in 2017:
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