In the wake of the leaking of a shocking Supreme Court draft opinion citing Roe v. Wade, Justice Clarence Thomas on Friday rebuked Americans for “becoming addicted to wanting certain results — not living with the results we don’t like.” find,” Reuters reported.
Thomas, who spoke to attorneys and judges at an 11th Circuit Judicial Conference in Atlanta, added: “We cannot be an institution that can be bullied into giving you exactly the results you want. The events of earlier this week are a symptom of that,” he noted, Reuters reported Friday.
He apparently referred to protests that erupted after the leak, but did not specifically refer to the draft advisory or demonstrations against it, The Washington Post reported.
Declining respect for the law and institutions “means bad for a free society,” Thomas warned, according to the Post.
Thomas also said he is concerned about a “different attitude from young people” that may not show the same respect for the law as previous generations.
The draft decision that would wipe out half a century of reproductive freedoms was not just a surprise, but a radical departure from precedent.
The opinion, written by Judge Samuel Alito, indicated that there was no protection for abortion rights in the constitution, in part because the word “abortion” does not appear in the document. The right to abortion was based on a right to privacy, which is also not in the Constitution. Alito’s opinion could overturn many of the other rights Americans have come to depend on.
The court confirmed the authenticity of the leaked document, but called it tentative. However, the opinion, or something similar, is expected to be passed by the conservative majority in court.
The draft opinion, published Monday by Politico, would uphold a Mississippi law banning abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy and overturn the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade decision.
The court will rule on the case at the end of June.
This article originally appeared on HuffPost and has been updated.
