{"id":2613503,"date":"2026-06-11T21:26:23","date_gmt":"2026-06-12T01:26:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/clarence-thomas-urges-supreme-court-to-revisit-questionable-legal-doctrine\/"},"modified":"2026-06-11T21:26:23","modified_gmt":"2026-06-12T01:26:23","slug":"clarence-thomas-urges-supreme-court-to-revisit-questionable-legal-doctrine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/clarence-thomas-urges-supreme-court-to-revisit-questionable-legal-doctrine\/","title":{"rendered":"Clarence Thomas urges Supreme Court to revisit &#8216;questionable&#8217; legal doctrine"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">20<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fclarence-thomas-urges-supreme-court-to-revisit-questionable-legal-doctrine%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2613503&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<article class=\"fn-body\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Justice <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/clarence-thomas\/\" type=\"post_tag\" id=\"1048\">Clarence Thomas<\/a> urged his colleagues on the <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/supreme-court\/\" type=\"post_tag\" id=\"203\">Supreme Court<\/a> to \u201creexamine\u201d a legal doctrine that prevents someone from taking a contrary position in a lawsuit from one they took in a previous lawsuit, questioning its foundation in law.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Thomas took aim at judicial estoppel in a separate <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.supremecourt.gov\/opinions\/25pdf\/24-109_new_jifl.pdf\" type=\"link\" id=\"https:\/\/www.supremecourt.gov\/opinions\/25pdf\/24-109_new_jifl.pdf\">concurring opinion<\/a> published Thursday in the case <em>Keathley v. Buddy Ayers Construction, Inc.<\/em>, which was a unanimous ruling in a bankruptcy case. Judicial estoppel is the principle that defenders have argued protects \u201cthe integrity of the judicial process,\u201d and the majority opinion, penned by Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, found the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit took the wrong approach when applying it. Jackson wrote that \u201cto determine whether an omission was inadvertent or mistaken for purposes of judicial estoppel, courts should look to the totality of the circumstances surrounding the omission,\u201d and that the appeals court\u2019s \u201cless holistic formulation was erroneous.\u201d<\/p>\n<section class=\"explore-more-section\" id=\"wex-recommended-widget\">\n<div class=\"magazine-container single\">\n<h1 class=\"magazine-title mt-2\">Recommended Stories<\/h1>\n<p>             <i class=\"fa-solid fa-play icon\"><\/i>         <\/div>\n<div class=\"explore-grid\">\n<div class=\"explore-card\">                         <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/supreme-court\/4604441\/supreme-court-rules-in-favor-ex-twitter-employee-secrets-saudi-official\/?itm_source=parsely-api\">                             <\/p>\n<div class=\"explore-thumb-wrap\">                                                                                                                                  <\/div>\n<h3>Supreme Court rules on case of ex-Twitter employee who handed secrets to Saudi Arabia<\/h3>\n<p>                         <\/a>                     <\/div>\n<div class=\"explore-card\">                         <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/supreme-court\/4598907\/supreme-court-tosses-biden-gas-appliance-rules\/?itm_source=parsely-api\">                             <\/p>\n<div class=\"explore-thumb-wrap\">                                                                                                                                  <\/div>\n<h3>Supreme Court tosses DC Circuit ruling on Biden\u2019s gas appliance rules<\/h3>\n<p>                         <\/a>                     <\/div>\n<div class=\"explore-card\">                         <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/supreme-court\/4595153\/supreme-court-23-opinions-left-final-weeks-of-term\/?itm_source=parsely-api\">                             <\/p>\n<div class=\"explore-thumb-wrap\">                                                                                                                                  <\/div>\n<h3>Supreme Court saves 23 opinions for release in final weeks of term<\/h3>\n<p>                         <\/a>                     <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/section>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Thomas joined Jackson\u2019s opinion in full but also took aim at the entire judicial doctrine in his six-page concurring opinion, which was joined by Justice Neil Gorsuch.<\/p>\n<div class=\"wex-ad-wrap\" style=\"min-height:5px;\"><span class=\"wex-ad-label\" style=\"display:none;\">Advertisement<\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-3182201-15\" data-wex-ad=\"art-dsk-inart-1\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-paywall\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cJudicial estoppel generally prevents a party from asserting a position in one lawsuit that contradicts its position in a previous proceeding. Lower federal courts have applied this doctrine broadly without clear authority to do so, and with only limited support from this Court\u2019s precedents. In a future case, we should reexamine it,\u201d Thomas wrote.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Thomas noted that the legal doctrine only entered federal courts in recent decades, but has \u201cbecome commonplace in the Courts of Appeals.\u201d He argued it has garnered widespread adoption in the lower courts despite the Supreme Court\u2019s precedents not justifying the doctrine and it having a \u201cquestionable\u201d legal foundation.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIt is unclear what gives federal courts the authority to bar suits based on judicial estoppel. Often, as in the case below, federal courts treat judicial estoppel as a matter of federal law and feel free to craft their own standards and extend the doctrine to new contexts. But, the doctrine appears to have no basis in any statute, any Federal Rule of Civil Procedure, or any traditional inherent power of federal courts,\u201d Thomas wrote.<\/p>\n<div class=\"wex-ad-wrap\" style=\"min-height:5px;\"><span class=\"wex-ad-label\" style=\"display:none;\">Advertisement<\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-3182201-16\" data-wex-ad=\"art-dsk-inart-2\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cAlthough the doctrine purports to punish litigants to \u2018protect the integrity of the judicial process,\u2019 the courts of appeals have not justified it as an exercise of the traditional sanctioning power that courts have been held to have in other contexts,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Thomas concluded his concurring opinion by urging the high court to take up a case that questions the validity of judicial estoppel.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Thursday\u2019s solo concurring opinion by Thomas continues his pattern of writing his own separate opinions, which urge the high court to either rule further than the majority wanted to on a matter or urge it to challenge a long-standing precedent or legal doctrine.<\/p>\n<div class=\"wex-ad-wrap\" style=\"min-height:5px;\"><span class=\"wex-ad-label\" style=\"display:none;\">Advertisement<\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-3182201-17\" data-wex-ad=\"art-dsk-inart-3\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/supreme-court\/4604441\/supreme-court-rules-in-favor-ex-twitter-employee-secrets-saudi-official\/\" type=\"post\" id=\"4604441\">SUPREME COURT RULES ON CASE OF EX-TWITTER EMPLOYEE WHO HANDED SECRETS TO SAUDI ARABIA<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">One of Thomas\u2019s other recent examples of urging the high court to go further came in his concurring opinion in April\u2019s <em><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/supreme-court\/4410470\/supreme-court-strikes-down-race-based-redistricting-map-in-louisiana\/\" type=\"link\" id=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/supreme-court\/4410470\/supreme-court-strikes-down-race-based-redistricting-map-in-louisiana\/\">Louisiana v. Callais<\/a><\/em> decision. In his concurring opinion in <em>Callais<\/em>, he agreed with the majority opinion updating the standards for race-based redistricting claims, but went further by finding that Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act \u201cdoes not regulate districting at all.\u201d His concurring opinion in <em>Callais<\/em> was only joined by Gorsuch.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Thomas is the most senior member on the Supreme Court, nominated to the high court by former President George H.W. Bush and confirmed by the Senate in 1991. Last month, Thomas became the second-longest-serving justice in Supreme Court history, and could become the longest-serving justice in the high court\u2019s history if he remains on the bench through May 2028.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Justice Clarence Thomas urged his colleagues on the Supreme Court to \u201creexamine\u201d a legal doctrine that prevents someone from taking a contrary position in a lawsuit from one they took in a previous lawsuit, questioning its foundation in law. Thomas took aim at judicial estoppel in a separate concurring opinion published Thursday in the case<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2638,"featured_media":2613504,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/clarence-thomas-questionable-doctrine.jpg?w=696","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[538],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2613503","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-washington-examiner"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/clarence-thomas-questionable-doctrine.jpg?w=696","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2613503","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2638"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2613503"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2613503\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2613504"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2613503"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2613503"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2613503"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}