Clarence Thomas’ New Supreme Court Opinion Sparks Backlash: ‘Insane’

Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas is once again facing heat after the conservative jurist on Friday was the lone dissenter in the High Court’s ruling in a landmark gun rights case.

Eight of the nine justices on the bench agreed in United States v. Rahimi to uphold a federal statute that bars individuals who are under a domestic violence restraining order from obtaining a firearm. The decision limited the scope of the Supreme Court’s 2022 ruling in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association Inc. v. Bruen, which broadly expanded Second Amendment rights.

Thomas, who wrote the opinion in Bruen, opposed his fellow justices on Friday, writing in his dissenting opinion that the federal statute in question in Rahimi violates the “plain text” of the Second Amendment and is not consistent with the “historical tradition of firearm regulation.” The High Court had agreed under Bruen that government regulations regarding gun ownership are only constitutional if there is a tradition of such laws in U.S. history.

“After [Bruen], this Court’s directive was clear: A firearm regulation that falls within the Second Amendment’s plain text is unconstitutional unless it is consistent with the Nation’s historical tradition of firearm regulation,” read Thomas’ opinion. “Not a single historical regulation justifies the statute at issue.”

The dissenting justice also noted in his opinion that in the Rahimi case, the person at the center of the statute, Zackey Rahimi, was not convicted of a crime but was rather prohibited to bear arms after being accused of hitting his girlfriend and threatening to shoot her. A restraining order was placed on Rahimi to bar him from seeing his girlfriend, which he later defied. Prosecutors also allege that Rahimi threatened another woman with a gun and committed several other shootings.

Thomas wrote that the federal statute used to bar Rahimi from owning a firearm “is not triggered by a criminal conviction or a person’s criminal history, unlike” other regulations and “strips an individual of his ability to possess firearms and ammunition without any due process.”

Several critics of Thomas have spoken out against the justice since the court opinions were released Friday morning. Former Republican Representative Adam Kinzinger wrote to X, formerly Twitter, “So Clarence Thomas was AGAINST banning DOMESTIC ABUSERS from owning guns? Insane.”

“Because he wasn’t already f****** awful enough, Clarence Thomas was the only SCOTUS Justice who ruled in favor of letting domestic abusers have guns,” wrote Joanne Carducci, podcaster and a supporter of President Joe Biden.

Reporter Matt Fuller shared a copy of Chief Justice John Roberts’ opinion on the case to his X account, which included a list of the accusations against Rahimi.

“Clarence Thomas thinks this person should be allowed to have a gun,” Fuller added.

Thomas has been caught in a fair number of Supreme Court scandals, including failing to disclose several luxurious gifts and trips that were funded by a Republican megadonor. He has also refused to recuse himself from cases related to the 2020 election despite his wife, Virginia “Ginny” Thomas, reaching out to former President Donald Trump’s aides and other lawmakers urging them to overturn Biden’s victory.

“Clarence Thomas is the ONLY Justice who wants to arm domestic abusers. ONLY one who took $4 million in bribes from billionaires. ONLY one who voted to protect Trump from investigators. ONLY Justice whose spouse tried to overturn the election,” wrote Lindy Li, a Democratic political strategist.

Newsweek reached out to the Supreme Court Press Office via email for comment on Friday.