{"id":442902,"date":"2021-04-22T16:35:57","date_gmt":"2021-04-22T20:35:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=442902"},"modified":"2021-04-22T16:36:02","modified_gmt":"2021-04-22T20:36:02","slug":"clarence-thomas-smacks-leftist-justices-for-hypocrisy-on-maturity-of-minors-regarding-abortion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/clarence-thomas-smacks-leftist-justices-for-hypocrisy-on-maturity-of-minors-regarding-abortion\/","title":{"rendered":"Clarence Thomas Smacks Leftist Justices For Hypocrisy On Maturity Of Minors Regarding Abortion"},"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\">26<\/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-smacks-leftist-justices-for-hypocrisy-on-maturity-of-minors-regarding-abortion%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=442902&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--><div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/fb_image-3322.jpeg?w=1200&#038;h=800&#038;ixlib=react-9.0.3\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\"  style=\"display:none\"><\/div>\n<p>On Thursday, in a concurring opinion he wrote agreeing with the Supreme Court\u2019s 6-3 decision in <em>Jones v. Mississippi<\/em>, Justice Clarence Thomas <a href=\"https:\/\/www.supremecourt.gov\/opinions\/20pdf\/18-1259_8njq.pdf\">smacked leftist justices on the Court<\/a> for their hypocrisy when it came to the maturity of minors. Thomas pointed out that some language in Court decisions assumed that when referring to juvenile murderers, members of the Court had cited that \u201c<em>children <\/em>are different\u201d and that courts must consider \u201ca <em>child<\/em>\u2019s lesser culpability,\u201d yet when discussing abortion by girls of minor age, leftist justices had assumed they were mature enough to make that decision.<\/p>\n<p>Thomas wrote, \u201cWhen addressing juvenile murderers, this Court has stated that \u2018<em>children <\/em>are different\u2019 and that courts must consider \u2018a <em>child<\/em>\u2019s lesser culpability.\u2019\u201d (Thomas was referring to <em>Montgomery v. Louisiana<\/em>.) \u201cAnd yet, when assessing the Court-created right of an individual of the same age to seek an abortion, Members of this Court take pains to emphasize a \u2018young <em>woman<\/em>\u2019s\u2019 right to choose.\u201d (Thomas referred to <em>Lambert v. Wicklund, Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pa.v. Casey<\/em>, and <em>Ohio v. Akron Center for Reproductive Health<\/em>.)<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt is curious how the Court\u2019s view of the maturity of minors ebbs and flows depending on the issue,\u201d he concluded.<\/p>\n<p>The case in which Thomas offered his concurrence, <em>Jones v. Mississippi<\/em>, revolved around Brett Jones, who was 15 years old when he murdered his grandfather. At the time of his conviction, a murder conviction meant a mandatory sentence of life without parole in Mississippi. That sentence was pronounced by the trial judge; the decision was appealed.<\/p>\n<p>Later, the Supreme Court decided\u00a0<em>Miller v<\/em>. <em>Alabama<\/em>, which held that \u201cthe Eighth Amendment permits a life-without-parole sentence for a defendant who committed a homicide when he or she was under 18, but only if the sentence is not mandatory and the sentencer therefore has discretion to impose a lesser punishment,\u201d as the Supreme Court stated.<\/p>\n<p>The Mississippi Supreme Court cited <em>Miller<\/em>, ordering Jones to be re-sentenced. But the sentencing judge pointed out he had discretion under <em>Miller <\/em>to impose a sentence less than life without parole, and thus his sentencing was appropriate. Jones appealed again, citing another new case, <em>Montgomery v.<\/em> <em>Louisiana<\/em>, claiming that under <em>Miller <\/em>and <em>Montgomery<\/em>, a sentencer must make a separate factual finding that a murderer under 18 is permanently incorrigible before sentencing the offender to life without parole. That argument was rejected by the Mississippi Court of Appeals.<\/p>\n<p>The Supreme Court ruled on Thursday, \u201cIn the case of a defendant who committed a homicide when he or she was under 18, <i>Miller <\/i>and\u00a0<em>Montgomery <\/em>do not require the sentencer to make a separate factual finding of permanent incorrigibility before sentencing the defendant to life without parole. In such a case, a discretionary sentencing system is both constitutionally necessary and constitutionally sufficient.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cMiller <\/em>and <em>Montgomery <\/em>are from the same lineage of precedent that refashions the Eighth Amendment to accommodate this Court\u2019s views of juvenile justice. The similarities end there, however, because the decisions cannot be reconciled,\u201d Thomas asserted.<\/p>\n<p>Thomas continued:<\/p>\n<blockquote readability=\"11\">\n<p><em>Rather than accept what was plainly the case\u2014that Miller was procedural, not watershed, and thus not retroactive\u2014Montgomery proceeded to \u201crewrite\u201d it into a substantive rule. \u2026 Montgomery could not have been clearer that its rule transcended mere procedure: \u201cEven if a court considers a child\u2019s age before sentencing him or her to a lifetime in prison, that sentence still violates the Eighth Amendment for a child whose crime reflects \u2018unfortunate yet transient immaturity.\u2019\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>\u201cThe problem with this new rule is that it had little to do with <em>Miller<\/em>,\u201d Thomas opined. \u201cThrough a feat of legerdemain, <em>Montgomery <\/em>began by acknowledging that <em>Miller <\/em>did \u2018not categorically bar a penalty for a class of offenders or type of crime,\u2019 yet just three sentences later concluded that \u2018<em>Miller <\/em>did bar life without parole . . . for all but the rarest of juvenile offenders, those whose crimes reflect permanent incorrigibility.\u2019 In a similar Janus-faced demonstration, <em>Montgomery <\/em>reiterated <em>Miller<\/em>\u2019s assurance that \u2018trial courts [need not] make a finding of fact regarding a child\u2019s incorrigibility,\u2019 yet decided that \u2018<em>Miller <\/em>drew a line between children whose crimes reflect transient immaturity and those rare children whose crimes reflect irreparable corruption.\u2019 These statements cannot be reconciled.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em>The Daily Wire is one of America\u2019s fastest-growing conservative media companies and counter-cultural outlets for news, opinion, and entertainment. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a <\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/subscribe\"><em>member<\/em><\/a><em>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On Thursday, in a concurring opinion he wrote agreeing with the Supreme Court\u2019s 6-3 decision in Jones v. Mississippi, Justice Clarence Thomas smacked leftist justices on the Court for their &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2276496,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/fb_image-3322.jpeg?w=1200&h=800&ixlib=react-9.0.3","fifu_image_alt":"Clarence Thomas Smacks Leftist Justices For Hypocrisy On Maturity Of Minors Regarding Abortion","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-442902","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/fb_image-3322.jpeg?w=1200&h=800&ixlib=react-9.0.3","fifu_image_alt":"Clarence Thomas Smacks Leftist Justices For Hypocrisy On Maturity Of Minors Regarding Abortion","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/442902","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\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=442902"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/442902\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2276496"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=442902"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=442902"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=442902"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}