Overview
- In a televised lecture Wednesday at the University of Texas at Austin, Justice Clarence Thomas said progressivism threatens the nation’s founding principles based on natural rights and limited government.
- He traced the ideology’s rise to Woodrow Wilson and linked it to past abuses upheld by courts, citing segregation in Plessy v. Ferguson and forced sterilization in Buck v. Bell.
- Thomas urged students to show courage like the Declaration’s signers and to “take ownership” of the country by speaking up, defending religious liberty, and entering civic life.
- The event drew a standing ovation inside the hall and student protests outside, and The Wall Street Journal published an excerpt of the speech the same day.
- Reaction split along ideological lines, with conservative media praising the address and liberal commentators condemning it, and the remarks landed after public friction among justices as the Court prepares to release opinions Friday.