No, Clarence Thomas hasn't announced retirement plans | Fact check
The claim: Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas has announced plans to retire in January
A Nov. 30 Facebook post (direct link, archive link) shows an image of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas along with a claim about his future.
“BREAKING: Clarence Thomas to retire from Supreme Court on January 21,” reads the text on the image, which is a screenshot of a Nov. 29 post on X.
Other versions of the claim circulated on Instagram and X.
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Our rating: False
There is no evidence of any such announcement. The X post shown in the image is from a parody account.
Thomas previously said he had no retirement plans
The claim came weeks after Democratic senators shot down the notion of Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor retiring before the end of President Joe Biden’s term, which would potentially allow Biden to fill the vacancy with a liberal justice before President-elect Donald Trump takes office in January.
If Thomas were to retire on Jan. 21, 2025, the day after Trump takes office, Trump would have the opportunity to fill the seat with a justice who could potentially keep the court’s conservative majority secured for years to come.
But there’s no evidence Thomas plans on doing so.
Though the post claims there was an announcement about such plans, there is nothing supporting the claim on the Supreme Court’s website, which posted former Justice Stephen Breyer’s letter announcing his retirement in 2022. There is also nothing about Thomas' purported retirement on SCOTUSblog – a website that covers the court's activities – or in reporting from other credible media outlets.
Claims of Thomas' potential retirement also circulated during Trump's first presidency.
"I'm not retiring," Thomas told members of the Supreme Court Historical Society at a June 2019 event, SCOTUSblog reported. Thomas added that he didn't have plans to retire in 20 or 30 years, according to the outlet.
The X account @RTNewsAmerica, which posted the version of the claim shown in the Facebook post, has a bio that describes the user as a “parody artist.”
The Facebook post is an example of what could be called "stolen satire," where content written as satire and presented that way originally is reposted in a way that makes it appear to be legitimate news. As a result, readers of the second-generation post are misled, as was the case here.
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Paste BN has debunked an array of claims pertaining to the Supreme Court, including false assertions that Biden ordered the Justice Department to arrest six justices and that the court ruled COVID-19 vaccines cause “irreparable” damage.
Paste BN reached out to the user who shared the post for comment but did not immediately receive a response.
Check Your Fact also debunked the claim.
Our fact-check sources
- @RTNewsAmerica, accessed Dec. 7, X bio
- SCOTUSblog, accessed Dec. 5, Newsfeed
- Supreme Court of the United States, accessed Dec. 5, Press Releases
- SCOTUSblog, June 3, 2019, Justice Thomas says he has 'no stress' and is 'doing fine'
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