'The process, the job of making the opinions is really difficult,' Thomas said. Thomas: SCOTUS critics lazy

They’re more than just wrong: Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas said Tuesday that critics of the court’s decisions suffer from “a disease of illiteracy or laziness” that could weaken the law.

Speaking in Augusta, Ga., near his hometown of Pin Point, the conservative justice was far from the silent presence he has become know for in oral arguments as he rebuked the “cynics” who are “drunk on their own opinions.”


“You don’t go to a Georgia fan to get commentary on the University of Florida, because it’s not objective commentary,” Thomas told the Augusta Bar Association, according to The Augusta Chronicle. “Unfortunately, much of the commentary about the court is from the standpoint of people who have vested interests in particular outcomes, particular policies or particular results. Do you think you are getting an honest assessment?”

Critics of the court’s decisions, he said, often appear not to have read the rulings they’re discussing — and though he generally does not read court commentary, he knows that most lawyers and members of the public do.

“You don’t just keep nagging and nagging and nagging. At some point it’s got to stop. Sometimes, too much is too much,” he said. “I think we are reaching the point where we are beginning to undermine the integrity of the law we’re going to need.”

Despite his assessment of critics outside the court, the court’s internal deliberations have not “disintegrated into the unfathomable conduct that we see in public discourse,” Thomas said, according to the Chronicle. He’s maintained good relationships with the liberal justices, even though they often disagree.

“The process, the job of making the opinions is really difficult, and it is done as a team,” he said. “We disagree, we tug, we pull. Every member that’s been appointed by different presidents, with different points of view, has been a good person. How we have been this fortunate is beyond me.”