Justice Clarence Thomas: Nation's capital is 'broken'

WASHINGTON — Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas lamented Wednesday that the nation's capital is "broken" and its institutions of government are being destroyed by an inability to debate issues with civility.

Speaking to a friendly audience at the Heritage Foundation as he celebrates his 25th anniversary on the high court, Thomas said even the Supreme Court must do more to earn the public trust.

"This city is broken in some ways," Thomas said. "At some point, we are going to have to recognize that we are destroying our institutions."

The court's lone African-American justice also defended his view that even prior Supreme Court precedents must be bent or broken to comply with the Constitution — something most of his colleagues don't believe.

"You've got lots of precedents out there that have been changed," Thomas said. "I believe we are obligated to rethink things constantly."

On other topics, the court's most enigmatic justice offered these views:

• Most of the action at the federal level is at government agencies, rather than in Congress. He noted that the Affordable Care Act of 2010 was among the last statutes to come before the court.

The name of that legislation "seems like it's kind of a misnomer, with all of the things that are going on," he said, in obvious reference to recent premium increases that have beset Obamacare.

 It's the job of the justices to make their opinions to average Americans. “I think we are obligated to make the Constitution and what we write about the Constitution accessible to citizens," he said.

• He reads and trusts only "friend of the court" briefs that come from reliable sources, such as the U.S. solicitor general's office and the American Civil Liberties Union. But "Law Professors for a Better World," he mused, making up the name? Not so much.

• He wishes he had more time to spend in his RV, a 40-foot, 17-year-old vehicle that he and his wife, Virginia, have ridden to 40 states in order to press the flesh with real people — including one man who said, "'Anybody ever tell you you look like Clarence Thomas?'"

"It's freedom for me," he said. "Even the breakdowns are great."