Clarence Thomas is one of the Supreme Court’s most conservative justices, but he’s also a black who grew up in the South’s bitter racial culture, so it’s hardly shocking that he voted for his own people in last week’s 5-4 ruling upholding Texas’ refusal to issue Confederate license plates.
Of course, this wasn’t a free-speech issue. It was an attempt to compel the state to endorse a viewpoint held by some and opposed by others. Citizens have always had the right to express their views; but they’ve never had a “right” to force public agencies to do their talking for them.
From any angle of reasonable constitutional jurisprudence, the decision was the obvious and right one, which makes me wonder how the court’s four other conservatives could get it so wrong.