Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas sounded an alarm this week as America barrels toward its 250th birthday. Speaking at the University of Texas law school, Thomas took aim squarely at modern progressivism — and what he sees as its direct collision course with the nation’s founding DNA.
“Progressivism seeks to replace the basic premises of the Declaration of Independence and hence our form of government,” Thomas said — a line that landed less like a lecture and more like a warning shot.
Thomas painted a picture of a country drifting away from its roots, describing a rising tide of “cynicism, rejection, hostility and animus” toward the very idea of America. That’s not exactly the stuff of unity speeches — but Thomas isn’t in the business of sugarcoating.
“[Progressivism] holds that our rights and our dignities come not from God, but from government,” he said. “It requires of the people a subservience and weakness incompatible with a constitution premised on the transcendent origin of our rights.” If the government gives you your rights, the government can take them away. The Founders — and Thomas — would call that a dangerous game. To drive the point home, Thomas reached back to the nation’s founding spirit, invoking the raw, unapologetic courage that built America from scratch.
Clarence Thomas’ remarks on progressivism, its foundations, history, and impact — from his appearance at UT Austin today, 4/15/26.
Entire unedited appearance attached below. https://t.co/xhiR4aBnM9 pic.twitter.com/WG6aT8uTVP
— Mark Valorian (@markvalorian) April 16, 2026
“Give me liberty or give me death. That devotion has driven the great achievements and heroism of Americans in the 250 years since!”
Thomas ticked through a greatest-hits reel of American grit: frontiersmen pushing west, families carving towns out of wilderness, mothers raising kids on faith and patriotism — and yes, sending them off to fight and die for it.
“It is a devotion expressed in the final sentence of the Declaration, the willingness to do anything for our principles that has throughout American history been most indispensable.”
That, he argued, is the secret sauce — and it’s running low. “It is that devotion that we are missing today and that we must find in our hearts if this nation is to endure.”
With the country gearing up to celebrate a quarter-millennium since United States Declaration of Independence, Thomas is essentially asking: what, exactly, are we celebrating if we’ve lost faith in the very principles that got us here?
Love him or loathe him, Thomas just threw down a challenge — not to politicians, but to the country itself.
