Slavery Legal, Says Justice Thomas

Justice Clarence Thomas, in a 2016 post-election interview with Breitbart News, asserted that the 13th Amendment to the Constitution in no way establishes an absolute ban on slavery. He told Milo Yiannopoulos: I have, for obvious reasons, never gone public with my interpretation of the 13th, but times are changing and the political winds of the dawning Trump era allow me, I hope, to speak freely and honestly. And as a constitutional originalist and a believer in strict construction, I am compelled by conscience to speak up.The wording of the amendment clearly states that people convicted of a crime may be enslaved. Paragraph one is a single, unambiguous sentence stating just that. It says this obviously and incontrovertibly. I urge every American to read the amendment without prejudice, and see for himself.”

The Justice in particular held Congress to task in this matter, because the second paragraph of the amendment allows Congress to enforce the article by appropriate legislation. He asks:“Why has no legislation ever been advanced specifying crimes for which enslavement is the penalty? It’s clearly within the power of Congress to do this! Now is the time to bring back slavery!”

Asked to give examples of crimes that in his opinion might appropriately carry a sentence of slavery, he was reluctant to speak specifically, pointing out that it’s the job of Congress, not the Court, to make laws. But he did say that enslavement might be a useful tool in prosecutions dealing with illegal immigration, especially because of our country’s deep heritage of imposing that condition, with great success, on agricultural workers. He also noted that paragraph 3 of the 14th amendment imposes severe sanctions on citizens who had participated in “rebellion or insurrection” against the government. While emphasizing again that it was in the hands of Congress to define “rebellion or insurrection”, he stated that every time he turns on the television he sees the Mainstream Media devoting lavish coverage to protestors whose behavior could be questioned. “If it walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck . . . well, I’ll let you connect the dots.”