U.S. Supreme Court

Society can't be 'consistently cynical,' Justice Thomas tells law students

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Thomas

Justice Clarence Thomas.

Justice Clarence Thomas decried cynicism during a law student dinner on Saturday at the Federalist Society.

Thomas said students need to support an ideal rather than being in opposition, the Washington Times reports. “What do we want the law to stand for?” he asked.

“I don’t think we can have a society where we are consistently cynical or negative the way that we are,” Thomas said. “At some point, if you’re going to have a country, you got to have something to be for.”

Thomas also said the Supreme Court changed “not to the better” after the death of his friend, Justice Antonin Scalia in February 2016.

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