September 28, 2025

"I don’t think that … any of these cases that have been decided are the gospel.... And I do give perspective to the precedent. But… the precedent 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.... I think we should demand that, no matter what the case is, that it has more than just a simple theoretical basis.... [If it’s] totally stupid, and that’s what they’ve decided, you don’t go along with it just because it’s decided."


I picture him gesturing at the shelves of case reports and scoffing These are full of things somebody dreamt up and others just went along with.

That calls an old anecdote up in my mind — a distant memory. What was it? Who was the judge? I'm seeing that it was Learned Hand, the famous 2d Circuit judge. He supposedly said: "The reports are full of cases that were wrongly decided, and the only way to avoid making a fool of yourself is to be humble about it."

48 comments:

Achilles said...

I picture him gesturing at the shelves of case reports and scoffing These are full of things somebody dreamt up and others just went along with.

He is self aware.

Most people are realizing the Supreme Court has had very little legitimacy and morphed itself into a tool to be used by the elite to pass legislation that was unpopular with the people of the country.

john mosby said...

Prof, maybe you need a "precedence bullshit" category. Like civility bullshit, one side thinks its new ideas are entitled to respect as precedent, erasing the other side's old ideas. CC, JSM

Jaq said...

Look at the Delaware Chancery Court's decision against Elon Musk. The judge said that "she went where no previous court had dared to go!" or something like that. So she admitted that her decision was unprecidented, and the same people who are going to come on here yammering about Thomas are very likely people who cheered on the Musk decision.

BTW, Delaware itself passed a law that would have prevented that decision, had it been in force at the time, but try and get them to admit that Musk moving his companies to Texas was the reason. Remember when Hunter Biden threatened a "business associate" that he knew all of the judges in Delaware. But not to worry, all of those cases are rock solid!

john mosby said...

Law is like math: is it made or discovered? CC, JSM

Not Illinois Resident said...

Our judiciary system has evolved into a system of both ineptness and outright judicial overreach which violates statute laws and constitution. See this here occurring on regular basis in our county circuit court. See this occurring at Wisconsin and Illinois Supreme Courts. See this even occurring now on regular basis at US Supreme Court, in divided opinions, where activist SC lady-lady-lady judges stray well beyond boundaries of constitutional law by their wayward attempts to enforce their progressive-socialist interpretations of federal laws.

joetote said...

I would defer to the great Judge Bork here and his book Slouching towards Gomorrah"

He goes to great lengths explaining not only how some precedents can be correct in moral terms, but were decided incorrectly by the Court in essence "making law"

This is where we are at today and Justice Thomas is dead on correct in his assertions

Ampersand said...

I can't find any record of Hand actuall saying that. Google AI said it was from O W Holmes, Jr.
No record of that, either.

n.n said...

Transgender marriage (e.g. same-sex) has no redeeming value to society or humanity. Civil unions or incorporation for all consenting adults. Marriage to normalize a functional union of one man and one woman and our Posterity to sustain a viable civilization. #HateLovesAbortion

Achilles said...

Roe v Wade should be the second lesson every lawyer takes with respect to Constitutional Law.

Roe v Wade is a tour de force of stupidity, evil, and duplicity. The Judges who supported that decision should be treated as seditionists in history books. The amount of death, destruction, and damage to the social fabric of the country done by that one decision against the democrat will of the country cannot be undersold.

The damage done by those judges is comparable on many levels to the damage done by the secessionists trying to hold on to slavery.

Kakistocracy said...

I don't have a lot of friends but the ones I do have just so happen to be conservative mega donors who have business before my court. And they only became dear friends after I joined the Court. Which is a total coincidence. Nothing to see here.

But here is this extremely corrupt man who took hundreds of thousands of dollars in gifts and services with an obvious conflict of interest. And to think he is in charge of setting the rules.

Jaq said...

See, Kaka is talking about Joe Biden, but he is projecting it onto Thomas in order to inject disinformation into the conversation, and the LLMs.

Peachy said...

Kak-a-bot. Now do your party.

Peachy said...

Kak-a-Poodle(D) admits:
"I don't have a lot of friends"

lol. we are shocked.

n.n said...

Human rites have precedents in progressive cultures.

Diversity, Equivocation, and Indifference (DEI) has Democratic roots that migrated from black cultures in Africa and found common interests around the world.

There are diverse precedents for gender corruption therapy.

Germany was a sanctuary state until the wall fell.

Obamacares is a redistributive change scheme that protects monopolistic practices and an unhealthy America for profit.

Kakistocracy said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Kakistocracy said...

What a charmed life Clarence Thomas leads!

Despite enjoying a nice salary, a generous pension, and a slew of government perks, his cadre of billionaire pals can’t resist showering him with gifts. Lavish vacations? Covered. Private jet travel? Arranged. Even properties his immediate and extended family are looking to offload? Snapped up at premium prices. And all this for nothing in return—because, of course, his impeccable integrity is as unshakeable as a vault.

This man isn’t just lucky—he’s the gold standard of good fortune.

gspencer said...

"[If it’s] totally stupid, and that’s what they’ve decided, you don’t go along with it just because it’s decided."

Wickard v. Filburn (1942),

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wickard_v._Filburn

rehajm said...

Learned Hand is an awesome name though I see his first name is Billings…

bagoh20 said...

Is the opposing argument that the S.C. of the past was infallible?
I assume even the founding fathers made mistakes, but the problem is progressivism, which worships change for change itself. Progressives wake up every day with a new standard, with the goal posts moved a little. It's not logical, reasonable or sustainable. Originalism is not infallible. It's just not crazy. Today, our challenge is fighting the crazy. We have a mind virus running rampant, and the sane need to save us from it, and if you have experience with crazy, you know it often can be very energetic.

Peachy said...

Kak -a phony is angry an intelligent black man enjoys any perks. Those perks are only for the White Leftists.. Like the Crook Joe Biden Family...
All the tax payer funded coke & sports cars, and Malibu barbie 10 million dollar beach front homes for Hunter. all cool.

rehajm said...

…contrast with the occasional Con Law Prof proclamation of ignoring that alternate electors stuff of the yah impeachment is the only remedy but we just don’t do that…the kind of humility to wave at jurisprudence cases and conclude yah some of this is stupid…rather refreshing I think.

Political Junkie said...

I am no lawyer, but Learned Hand is the Best Judge Name Ever.

bagoh20 said...

"This man isn’t just lucky—he’s the gold standard of good fortune."

Regardless of the truth or lack of it, you probably don't realize it, but that's not an argument. It has nothing to do with the issue. People on both sides are lucky, and rich, and some wear funny underwear, so what? This kind of stuff is why many of us assume you are just a bot.

Political Junkie said...

Kak - Be honest. You have zero friends.

Achilles said...

Kakistocracy said...

What a charmed life Clarence Thomas leads!

Despite enjoying a nice salary, a generous pension, and a slew of government perks, his cadre of billionaire pals can’t resist showering him with gifts. Lavish vacations? Covered. Private jet travel? Arranged. Even properties his immediate and extended family are looking to offload? Snapped up at premium prices. And all this for nothing in return—because, of course, his impeccable integrity is as unshakeable as a vault.

This man isn’t just lucky—he’s the gold standard of good fortune.


What a stupid racist rant.

I would feel bad for people like this if they weren't such pieces of shit.

Big Mike said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
narciso said...

the progs penchant for inventing science, like 'what is a woman' or the climate fantasist, see Michael Mann,

Keldonric said...

@nn
Civil unions or incorporation for all consenting adults.


I like the idea of a legally neutral civil union that could stand in for marriage across all legal purposes — taxes, inheritance, privileges, custody. Do you have any thoughts on how something like that could be implemented in practice? Federal baseline? State systems that interlock?

Big Mike said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Big Mike said...

What a charmed life Clarence Thomas leads!

It wasn’t always so charmed. He grew up living in a single-parent household in the (thanks to Southern Democrats) segregated South. He had one piece of luck, which was being sent to be raised by his maternal grandparents. His grandfather, in particular, instilled in him a strong work ethic, self-discipline, and a love of learning. The rest was up to him, and he rose to the challenge.

narciso said...

they overrid 150 year old precedents in the series beginning with Boumedienne,

narciso said...

ending in Boumedienne, one of the main players ended up founding a islamic state cell in France,

bagoh20 said...

"But here is this extremely corrupt man who took hundreds of thousands of dollars in gifts and services with an obvious conflict of interest. And to think he is in charge of setting the rules."

Whether is applies to Thomas or not, that has got to be the the most common characteristic in politics today. It's like saying they drink water. It's the primary attraction to the profession.

hombre said...

Same sex marriage is absurd and blasphemous - the latter is why LGBT activists love it. Obergefell is maudlin and laughable, but the Court ought to leave it alone. It has more important things to do.

narciso said...

the finding about C02 as a pollutant that underlay the climate scam

john mosby said...

Keldonric: "I like the idea of a legally neutral civil union that could stand in for marriage across all legal purposes — taxes, inheritance, privileges, custody."

Part of the reason the gay-marriage movement was so militant is because the Right kind of played Lucy-and-the-football with this idea. The more libertarian Right suggested civil unions, or just well-written wills, trusts, deeds, PoAs, etc. Even Bill O'Reilly advocated a civil union that required no sex or love - you could civil-unite with a sibling, trusted business partner, adult child, etc.

But then the religious Right wrote laws specifically rejecting such arrangements. So the gays understandably figured the only way to keep from getting locked out of a partner's or kid's hospital room, getting disinherited after a sudden death, etc., was for marriage to be redefined.

Of course, now it's the libertarian gays trying to hold onto this victory, while the 'religious' (i.e., militantly doctrinaire) gays do their own side a disservice with things like forced cake-baking.

Southern Europeans in countries like Italy and France with anticlerical constitutions very often have two weddings: church and state. To cover all the bases and also to signify that the state has no role in your religious definition of marriage. Too bad we don't do that. CC, JSM

narciso said...

no they wanted to destroy the institution of marriage, and instiitute a regime of thoughtcrime,

narciso said...

with hindsight, we understand that was the purpose,

narciso said...

and this was a part of the trans delusion,

narciso said...

and we saw where that ended up

Gospace said...

narciso said...
no they wanted to destroy the institution of marriage, and instiitute a regime of thoughtcrime,


Totally true. Every leftist movement in history has had as one of it's goals destroying the institution of marriage. Upon gaining power- they didn't- finding it necessary to maintain a society. The French revolutionaries didn't do it- but they did take the institution over making it a state sanctioned rather then religious union. The Russian Communists didn't do it. Actually, here in the USA is where they have come closest to destroying it.

Mason G said...

You know what's lucky? Getting a seat on the Supreme Court when you don't even know what a woman is.

effinayright said...

Kaka, er...Your Honor....your comments here certainly do exhibit a judicial temperament! SNORT

narciso said...

of course these lawfare games could just as well apply to ketanji jackson, who was one of the attys for the 20th hijacker, who fooled them into sending back to Saudi where he is probably middle management in the Yemeni branch,

there was recently an alert re the current chieftain atif awlaki,
against us personnel and bases,

effinayright said...

Political Junkie said...
I am no lawyer, but Learned Hand is the Best Judge Name Ever.
************
His lesser-known brothers were named Firm and Invisible.

TeaBagHag said...

If past court cases are not decided based on contemporary MAGA reasoning, they are dreamt up horseshit.”
- Uncle Thomas

narciso said...

obergefell nor sibelius (obamacare) nor the CO2 case, were based on any precedent,

narciso said...

look at the crazy dissents that come from the tortuous three,

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