The historic Supreme Court ruling Brown v. Board of Education which launched the integration of the nation's school system has been blasted by Justice Clarence Thomas as an "extravagant use of judicial power."
He made the stunning pronouncement in his ruling for the Supreme Court majority which refused in a 6-3 decision Thursday to order redrawn South Carolina congressional boundaries that had been attacked as racially gerrymandered to tip the scales in favor of white voters.
Thomas not only argued to let stand the legislative mapping in his concurrent ruling with Justice Samuel Alito, he also — again — attacked the landmark Supreme Court decision that ordered schools integrated to give all children access to the same quality of education.
The 1954 decision, whose 70th anniversary was celebrated last week, held that racial segregation in public education violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Constitution.
As Thomas argued against Supreme Court interference in the controversial congression boundaries he took sharp shots at Brown v. Board of Education, which he views as the start of court's overreach.
"The court's impatience with the pace of desegregation" in that case "led us to approve extraordinary remedial measures," he wrote in his decision.
He claimed the desegration decision represented the court's wrong-headed "boundless view of equitable remedies," as it mobilized "flexible power to invent whatever new remedies may seem useful at the time."
Just as he believes the court overstepped responding to school segration under the Constitution's Equal Protection clause, he sees no role for the Supreme Court to adjuciated legislative districts viewed as gerrymandered, he argues. He argued that the court should "abandon" any such cases.
"In my view, the Court has no power to decide these types of claims," he wrote. "Drawing political districts is a task for politicians, not federal judges," he argued.
Justice Elena Kagan wrote in a withering dissent that the ruling will allow the continuation of "this 'odious' practice of sorting citizens, built on racial generalizations and exploiting racial divisions."
Thomas is already under fire following accusations of distrubing conflict of interest amid revelations that he enjoyed a number of costly trips paid for by Republican mega donors.
His wife, Virginia Thomas, is also a major rightwing activist who has baselessly argued that the presidential election lost by Donald Trump was rigged.
Justice Alito is under attack for two controversial flags hoisted by Jan. 6 insurrectionists flown at his Virginia home, and at a New Jersey vacation home.
