Thomas Calls Progressivism 'an Existential Threat' to Nation

Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas has accused progressivism of undermining the country's founding ideals, calling it "an existential threat to America." Speaking Wednesday at the University of Texas at Austin Law School in celebration of the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, Thomas argued that progressive thought aims to "replace the basic premises" of the declaration, "and hence our form of government." The court's longest-serving justice did not name current politicians or cases, ABC News reports.

But Thomas faulted intellectuals and universities for eroding belief in the declaration's assertion that "all men are created equal" and have rights that predate government. Progressivism, he said, treats government—not God—as the source of rights and demands a "subservience and weakness" incompatible with the Constitution's design. When a student asked him about past comments on friendships among the justices, Thomas said that was a different generation, per the Hill. "Cynicism, rejection, hostility and animus" toward the country has supplanted "civil society," in which people would listen to differing views, Thomas said. "I think this generation of kids—they're in a different world," he said.