What is US Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas' ideology?

Answer 1

Answer

Ideology is hard to define. Personality and predilection (tendency) are very individual and not always traceable to one certain ideology. But his voting record on the Supreme Court are much easier to trace. He votes most of the time with Scalia and Thomas, the most conservative members on the court. Therefore he is one of the 3 most conservative court justices.

Answer

Justice Alito is a conservative and federalist but has taken a more progressive stance on a limited number of issues, such as restricting domestic intelligence gathering, decriminalizing homosexual activity, and ending hiring discrimination against gays. Although his record demonstrates an aversion to affirmative action suits, he recently voted with the progressives on the Court in the majority opinion in Gomez-Perez v. Potter, 553 US ___ (2008). The 6-3 decision interpreted a congressional statute as outlawing the retaliation against employees who have filed age discrimination suits.

Alito voted with the conservative majority in Gonzales v. Carhart, 550 US 124 (2007), agreeing Congress' ban on partial birth abortions is constitutional, but has not expressed an interest in overturning earlier term abortion options as presented in Roe v. Wade, (1974), Planned Parenthood v. Casey,(1992) or Stenberg v. Carhart, (2007) (the latter case challenged legislation that contained no provision providing for the safety and medical welfare of the mother).

Answer 2

During his Senate confirmation hearings, US Supreme Court Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr. insisted he was "not an ideologue," and that he believed in "modest" jurisprudence, indicating he was disinclined toward judicial activism, a label usually applied to liberal courts. His record of jurisprudence does not sustain his self-depiction, however.

Roberts is conservative and a Federalist who has publicly disagreed with many of the decisions of the Warren Court (Chief Justice Earl Warren, 1953-1969). His voting history suggests he supports a strong central government over states' rights, and corporate interests over individual liberties, as demonstrated by the recent decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, 558 US ___ (2010), overturning campaign finance reform legislation and expanding corporations' ability to drown out the electorate with biased campaign advertising.

Roberts has expressed opposition to broad application of the "exclusionary rule," on the grounds that it hampers criminal prosecution. The "exclusionary rule" prevents evidence obtained by unconstitutional means from being used in court. He is also outspoken about imposing restrictions on voting rights, and supports greater religious freedom, primarily for conservative Christians. He also voted to end mandatory busing used to support integration of public schools, a decision that may be considered a setback to civil rights interests.

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Answer 3

Justice Antonin Scalia is a conservative. He is one of two justices on the court (the other being Clarence Thomas) who believe in the philosophy of constitutional originalism, that the Constitution should be interpreted solely in terms of the framers original intent.

An originalist believes that the words in the constitution mean what they meant when they were written. This is in contrast to the philosophy of the living constitution, which is the viewpoint of the majority of constitutional scholars and is practiced by the other seven members of the court. Those who believe in the living constitution view the words in the document to evolve over time as opinions change. They would mean what people would generally to consider them to mean at the time the particular dispute arises.

So for example, if a case come up challenging a punishment as "cruel and unusual" (prohibited by the 8th amendment) originalists like Scalia would look at what the founding fathers felt were cruel and unusual and if he felt the punishment would have been approved by the founders then he would find the punishment being challenged as constitutional. The justices with the living constitution philosophy, on the other hand, would look to see whether the particular punishment fit into what society generally considers to be cruel and unusual. Since the founding fathers were much more tolerant of very severe forms of punishment than people generally are today, Scalia would be more likely to rule that a particular punishment is constitutional than the justices who believe in the living constitution.

The originalism philosophy more often than not results in a more conservative result. However, this isn't always the case. For example, because Scalia and Thomas believe the founding fathers had a broad meaning for the confrontation clause they often rule that defendants have greater rights to confront witnesses at trial than the living constitution justices. Scalia has ruled that prosecutors cannot allow witnesses to testify by closed circuit television in place of live testimony.

The two originalists also voted that that the confrontation clause gives defendants a constitutional right to call to the stand lab specialists who made routine findings rather than allow the prosecutors to simply submit a report. In both of these instances, some of the justices who are normally considered to be more liberal took positions more conservative than Scalia.

Answer 4

He is one of the only Justice that follows the Constitution and not his own personal agenda. He is called an originator; one who follows the Constitution of the United States when deciding a case. Quite refreshing as this moment in time, the American people need someone willing to stand on the wonderful document that has endured for 245 years, longer than the average constitution of other nations that last no longer than 17 years.

Answer 5

Associate Justice Clarence Thomas is a staunch Republican, and widely considered to be one of the most conservative Justices in US Supreme Court history.

Answer 6

Clarence Thomas was appointed by Republican President George HW Bush, and is considered by many to be the most conservative justice on the current Supreme Court.

Answer 7

Conservative

Answer 8

Conservative