Thread by @poet_economist

In another shocking, anti-Constitutional & lawless ruling, the half-Trump Supreme Court majority finds Americans don’t have the basic rights against false conviction or extralegal execution we have all come to take for granted. apple.news/AAomXCYKETD2hl…

The gravity of this ruling cannot be overstated. The #1stAmendment says Congress shall make no law abridging the right to seek redress, but Thomas ignores this & cites a law he claims denies courts the authority to intervene in miscarriages of justice.

The #6thAmendment guarantees the right to be properly defended by competent counsel, but Thomas ignores this & essentially argues with zero foundation in law that there is simply no need to correct such an injustice.

The evidence in the case makes clear the victim died of an injury that could not have been caused by the defendant, but Thomas ignores this & treats the life, liberty & rights of the defendant as secondary to a twisted legal argument that has no defensible reason for existing.

Yes, this is the same Justice Thomas who cast the lone vote to block release of White House documents to #January6 investigators, after his wife suggested a coup d’etat to the White House. The Court ruled 8-1 against Trump in that case.

This majority opinion marks an alarming & lawless departure by the Court from defense of some of the most essential human rights at the core of our democracy. Thomas has effectively argued that the Court has no responsibility to the innocent & that power can take innocent life.

This should be all the more alarming, given the number of Justices who supported this ruling who also claim to be “pro-life”. This ruling demonstrates without a doubt they are no such thing & that their anti-abortion views are about denying individual rights.

The monstrous #AlitoDraft in the Dobbs case similarly seeks to ignore or overrule much of the Bill of Rights, to make a legally baseless argument that women can be forced by the state to use their bodies for a purpose decided by a panel of judges or other unaccountable officials.

If either of the Presidents Bush or Donald Trump ever told you they believe in your freedom, the justices they sent to the Supreme Court are telling you that your rights have no meaning to them & will not be defended.

This bizarre & again grossly unprofessional document, full of false claims, seductively ignoring Constitutional protections, federal law & judicial precedent, shows the same amoral disregard for the responsibilities of a Justice & for the lethal ramifications of bad rulings.

Thomas writes, incomprehensibly, that “if a prisoner has ‘failed to develop the factual basis of a claim in State court proceedings,’ a federal court ‘shall not hold an evidentiary hearing on the claim’…” even if the fact is the “prisoner” is innocent & the prosecution lied.

This inexplicable claim—which obviously violates the #1stAmendment, the #6thAmendment, the #8thAmendment, the #9thAmendment & the #14thAmendment—essentially argues that none of us has a right not to be abducted, falsely tried & falsely executed by the state.

The instruments of power in the US are constrained by the obligation to operate in service of the rights of all. Thomas would discard the Constitution & this foundation of its legitimacy in exchange for the arbitrary claims of autocratic, undisciplined & dishonest power-holders.

This bizarre & again grossly unprofessional document, full of false claims, selectively ignoring Constitutional protections, federal law & judicial precedent, shows the same amoral disregard for the responsibilities of a Justice & for the lethal ramifications of bad rulings.

Thomas writes, incomprehensibly, that “if a prisoner has ‘failed to develop the factual basis of a claim in State court proceedings,’ a federal court ‘shall not hold an evidentiary hearing on the claim’…” even if the fact is the “prisoner” is innocent & the prosecution lied.

This inexplicable claim—which obviously violates the #1stAmendment, the #6thAmendment, the #8thAmendment, the #9thAmendment & the #14thAmendment—essentially argues that none of us has a right not to be abducted, falsely tried & falsely executed by the state.

The instruments of power in the US are constrained by the obligation to operate in service of the rights of all. Thomas would discard the Constitution & this foundation of its legitimacy in exchange for the arbitrary claims of autocratic, undisciplined & dishonest power-holders.