Samuel L. Jackson takes aim at SCOTUS and calls Justice Thomas ‘Uncle Clarence’

Estimated read time 10 min read


Actor Samuel L Jackson has dubbed Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas ‘Uncle Clarence’ after the conservative justice wrote an opinion defending the court’s decision to overturn Roe v Wade – and suggested using the logic to overturn other landmark decisions. 

‘Uncle Clarence’ is an apparent reference to the eponymous character of abolitionist Harriet Beecher Stowe’s novel, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, who was widely seen as compliant and subservient to his white masters.

In his tweet on Saturday, the Marvel Cinematic Universe actor wrote: ‘How’s Uncle Clarence feeling about overturning Loving v Virginia??!!’

The 1967 case declared that state bans on interracial marriages violated the Equal Process Clause and the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution.

The decision apparently led to Thomas getting married to Virginia Lamp, a white woman, 20 years later.

But in his opinion defending the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v Wade on Friday, and eliminate a woman’s Constitutional right to an abortion, Thomas suggested the court should consider overturning other landmark decisions.

Renowned actor Samuel L Jackson accused conservative Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas of being an 'Uncle Clarence' following his opinion supporting the Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v Wade

Jackson asked Thomas how he feels about the Loving v Virginia decision that allows for interracial marriage

Renowned actor Samuel L Jackson, left, accused conservative Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas of being an ‘Uncle Clarence’ following his opinion supporting the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v Wade

Thomas was married to Virginia Lamp, a white woman, in 1987 - 20 years after the landmark Loving v Virginia case which allowed for interracial marriage

Thomas was married to Virginia Lamp, a white woman, in 1987 – 20 years after the landmark Loving v Virginia case which allowed for interracial marriage

The Marvel Cinematic Universe actor asked Thomas how he feels about overturning that decision after he called for the court to 'reconsider' other decisions using the same premise

The Marvel Cinematic Universe actor asked Thomas how he feels about overturning that decision after he called for the court to ‘reconsider’ other decisions using the same premise

The 74-year-old conservative judge – the only black man on the Supreme Court – called for his colleagues to ‘reconsider’ and potentially overturn other cases decided on the legal authority of ‘substantive due process.’

Substantive due process refers to the idea that people have fundamental rights that are not specifically laid out in the Constitution – and was the basis for a number of landmark cases including Loving v Virginia.

‘In future cases, we should reconsider all of this Court’s substantive due process precedents, including Griswold, Lawrence and Obergefell,’ Thomas wrote.

He was specifically referring to the 1965 Griswold v Connecticut decision, which allows married couples to access birth control; and the 2003 Lawrence v Texas decision, which forbids states from outlawing consensual gay sex.

That decision ultimately led up to the 2015 Obergefell v Hodges decision that established a Constitutional right to gay marriage.

The Obergefell case also rested on the precedent of the Loving decision, in which the Supreme Court ruled: ‘There can be no doubt that restricting the freedom to marry solely because of racial classifications violates the central meaning of the Equal Protection Clause.’

Still, Thomas notably did not mention the Loving case as one he thought the court should overturn.

The Supreme Court ruled in the Loving v Virginia decision that 'There can be no doubt that restricting the freedom to marry solely because of racial classifications violates the central meaning of the Equal Protection Clause.' The decision allowed for the marriage of Richard Perry Loving, right, and his wife, Mildred, left

The Supreme Court ruled in the Loving v Virginia decision that ‘There can be no doubt that restricting the freedom to marry solely because of racial classifications violates the central meaning of the Equal Protection Clause.’ The decision allowed for the marriage of Richard Perry Loving, right, and his wife, Mildred, left

Thomas was one of five Supreme Court justices who voted to overturn the Roe v Wade decision on Friday, which granted women a constitutional right to an abortion

Thomas was one of five Supreme Court justices who voted to overturn the Roe v Wade decision on Friday, which granted women a constitutional right to an abortion

With his tweet on Saturday, Samuel L Jackson joined the ranks of celebrities speaking out against Friday’s Supreme Court decision rolling back nearly five decades of a women’s right to get an abortion.

It will now be up to each individual state to determine whether to legalize gay marriage, and at least 18 states have now banned abortions – and the Guttmacher Institute, a pro-choice research group, has said that 26 states are ‘certain or likely’ to ban the procedure.

At the Glastonbury Festival in the UK on Saturday night, singer-songwriter Olivia Rodrigo, 18, name-checked the five conservative justices who voted to overturn Roe v Wade, saying: ‘This song goes out to the justices Samuel Alito, Clarence Thomas, Neil Gorsuch, Amy Coney Barrett, and Brett Kavanaugh.’

She then called British pop star Lily Allen to the stage, and the two performed her 2009 hit F**k You in response to  

Rodrigo also said she was ‘devastated and terrified’ by the SCOTUS ruling.

‘Today is a very, very special day. This is actually my first Glastonbury, and I’m sharing the stage with Lily [Allen] which is the biggest dream come true ever. But I’m also equally as heartbroken,’ she said.

‘I’m devastated and terrified [by the ruling] and so many women and girls are going to die because of this.’

‘I wanted to dedicate this next song to the five members of the Supreme Court who showed us at the end of the day they truly don’t give a s*** about freedom.’

After her words prompted huge applause from the audience, the Good 4 U singer went on to address the SCOTUS justices individually, calling them each out by name before introducing her guest performer.

‘Someone that I absolutely adore is here today,’ she said of Allen. ‘I think she’s the most incredible song-writer, the most incredible artist, the most incredible person, and I’m so lucky that she’s here singing with me today.’

Allen flipped the middle finger as she stood on stage, before saying: ‘We hate you guys!’ as the pair launched into the expletive-filled song.

On Saturday, singer-songwriter Olivia Rodrigo called out the Supreme Court justices who voted to overturn Roe v Wade, saying: 'I'm devastated and terrified [by the ruling]'

On Saturday, singer-songwriter Olivia Rodrigo called out the Supreme Court justices who voted to overturn Roe v Wade, saying: ‘I’m devastated and terrified [by the ruling]’

Lily Allen, 37, right, joined American singer Rodrigo, 19, on stage to perform her hit F**k You in response to the US Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v Wade

Lily Allen, 37, right, joined American singer Rodrigo, 19, on stage to perform her hit F**k You in response to the US Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v Wade

 Meanwhile at a concert in London, Green Day star Billie Joe Armstrong claimed he was ‘renouncing his citizenship’ in the wake of the Supreme Court decision.

Armstrong, 50, made the declaration during a Friday night concert in London, telling the audience: ‘There’s too much f***ing stupid in the world.’

He also told the crowd he was going to move to the UK, a statement that was met with roaring applause.

‘F**k America. I’m f***ing renouncing my citizenship. I’m f**king coming here,’ Armstrong told the London Stadium crowd Friday night.

‘There’s just too much f***ing stupid in the world to go back to that miserable f***ing excuse for a country.’

He added: ‘Oh, I’m not kidding, you’re going to get a lot of me in the coming days.’  

The musician’s political outcry continued Saturday night at his show in Huddersfield, England.

Concertgoers claim he told the crowd ‘f**k the Supreme Court of America’ before playing American Idiot, which the band has previously said was written out of anger about not being represented by national leadership. 

He also alleged called the justices ‘pr**ks’ during his performance of Hitchin’ a Ride.

Green Day star Billie Joe Armstrong also said at a concert in London that he wants to move from the United States

Green Day star Billie Joe Armstrong also said at a concert in London that he wants to move from the United States

The Supreme Court’s decision ultimately handed back power to individual states to decide whether or not to permit the procedure.

The justices held that the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that allowed abortions performed before a fetus would be viable outside the womb – between 24 and 28 weeks of pregnancy – was wrongly decided because the U.S. Constitution makes no specific mention of abortion rights.

The decision means that women with unwanted pregnancies in large swathes of America will now face the choice of traveling to another state where the procedure remains legal and available, buying abortion pills online or having a potentially dangerous illegal abortion. 

In an address at the White House, President Joe Biden said it was ‘a sad day for the court and the country’ and called the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade – and making terminations illegal for millions of American women – ‘wrong, extreme and out of touch’.

Accusing the court of ‘expressly taking away a constitution right that is so fundamental to so many Americans’, Biden vowed the fight over abortion rights ‘is not over’ and said his administration will do everything in its power to combat efforts to restrict women from traveling to other states to obtain abortions.

The decision was met with widespread protests across the United States.

Hundreds of demonstrators descended on the Supreme Court building in Washington, D.C., on Friday and Saturday to denounce the justices’ decision. The fenced-off area in front of the high court was filled largely with those demanding abortion rights.

Crowds carried posters with slogans such as ‘Abort SCOTUS.’ One protester carried a placard that said ‘limit guns, not women’ in reference to another Supreme Court decision this week expanding gun rights.

The Arizona Capitol building was besieged by pro-abortion protesters Friday night, forcing riot cops to fire tear gas to disperse the angry crowd. 

Protesters in South Carolina clashed with police on Saturday when hundreds overcrowded the streets and six people were arrested by police.

And in Portland, Oregon, on Saturday night, a group of protesters smashed windows and vandalized several buildings. 

Dozens were arrested in New York City and Los Angeles over the weekend as demonstrators flooded the downtown streets. 

A protester lights a cigarette on a burning American Flag while marching with abortion-rights activists in DC on Friday

A protester lights a cigarette on a burning American Flag while marching with abortion-rights activists in DC on Friday

Hundreds of demonstrators descended on the Supreme Court building in Washington, D.C., on Friday and Saturday (pictured) to denounce the justices' decision

Hundreds of demonstrators descended on the Supreme Court building in Washington, D.C., on Friday and Saturday (pictured) to denounce the justices’ decision

Scrawled in black and red spray paint on one building in Portland was: 'Death to SCOTUS.' Another message read: 'Abort the Court' (pictured) Protesters posed with the graffiti

Scrawled in black and red spray paint on one building in Portland was: ‘Death to SCOTUS.’ Another message read: ‘Abort the Court’ (pictured) Protesters posed with the graffiti 

On day three of the protests this weekend, emotional protests and prayer vigils turned to resolve as several states enacted bans and both supporters and opponents of abortion rights mapped out their next move. 

As of Sunday, most of the Roe protests had remained peaceful apart from a pickup truck that drove through a group of demonstrators in Cedar Rapids, running over a woman’s foot.

Meantime, women have launched social media campaigns for ‘sex strikes’ in which they are threatening to withhold sex from men ‘until abortion rights are federal law.’

‘Women of America: Take the pledge. Because SCOTUS overturned Roe v. Wade, we cannot take the risk of an unintended pregnancy, therefore, we will not have sex with any man — including our husbands — unless we are trying to become pregnant,’ one Twitter user wrote.

‘I live in New York and I am DOUBLE FURIOUS with the Supreme Court. I want to find people who are coordinating a mass sex strike. That is our power,’ another woman raged. ‘Women have the power here. No more sex until abortion rights are federal law.’

There were also calls for ‘sex strike’ across the country as terms including #SexStrike and #abstinence began trending online.



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