Note that Justices Scalia and Thomas are about as far apart as possible in the Hamdi case. Justice Scalia would say that the military essentially has no power to detain citizens, except when Congress suspends habeas corpus, or when the citizens are promptly tried through the civilian criminal system. Justice Thomas would say that the President has very broad, nearly unreviewable, power in this situation.
This is just further evidence that the “Justice Thomas follows Justice Scalia in lockstep” argument that some have made is simply a slur on Justice Thomas. We’ve seen lots of cases where Justice Thomas has taken a different view from Justice Scalia — consider his opinions on the scope of the Commerce Clause, the scope of the Ex Post Facto Clause, the protections offered to anonymous speech, the Excessive Fines Clause, crossburning, and more.
In many cases, of course, the two agree: They were appointed, after all, by conservative Presidents, and come from the same conservative legal movement. We should be no more surprised by this agreement than by, say, Justice Brennan’s and Justice Marshall’s frequent agreement.
But cases such as Hamdi show that Justice Thomas has his own views, which do indeed differ in many important ways from Justice Scalia’s; and he can forcefully and eloquently express them. Many people will of course disagree with his decisions, either the separate ones or the ones on which he joins Justice Scalia (or vice versa). But they should disagree on the merits, rather than by casting aspersions on his ability or willingness to think independently.
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