2011 term United States Supreme Court opinions of Clarence Thomas

The 2011 term of the Supreme Court of the United States began October 3, 2011 and concluded September 30, 2012. This was the twenty-first term of Associate Justice Clarence Thomas's tenure on the Court .
Clarence Thomas 2011 term statistics
6
 Majority or Plurality
6
 Concurrence
0
 Other
5
 Dissent
1
 Concurrence/dissent Total = 18
Bench opinions = 17 Opinions relating to orders = 1 In-chambers opinions = 0
Unanimous opinions: 1 Most joined by: Scalia (7) Least joined by: Ginsburg (2)
Type Case Citation Issues Joined by Other opinions
4-01



Utah Highway Patrol v. American Atheists, Inc. • [full text] 565 U.S. ___ (2011)

 First Amendment  • Establishment Clause  • religious displays on government property
Thomas dissented from the Court's denial of certiorari, in a case in which the placement on public land of large crosses to commemorate the deaths of highway patrol officers was ruled unconstitutional. Thomas criticized the lack of clarity and indeterminacy of the Court's tests for whether such a display violated the First Amendment, and noted what he saw as the confusion and contradictions this caused in lower court rulings. "It is difficult to imagine an area of the law more in need of clarity," Thomas wrote, urging the Court to address this problem even if it did not adopt his view that the Establishment Clause only applied to the Federal Government and only prohibited "actual legal coercion."
4-02



Smith v. Cain 565 U.S. ___ (2012)

 Due Process Clause  • Brady disclosure  • materiality of witness impeachment evidence
Roberts
2-03



Hosanna-Tabor Evangelical Lutheran Church and School v. EEOC 565 U.S. ___ (2012)

 Americans with Disabilities Act  • First Amendment  • ministerial exception to employment discrimination laws
Roberts
 Alito
1-04



Pacific Operators Offshore, LLP v. Valladolid 565 U.S. ___ (2012)

 Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act  • Longshore and Harbor Workers' Compensation Act  • coverage of injury occurring on land Roberts, Kennedy, Ginsburg, Breyer, Sotomayor, Kagan
Scalia
2-05



Perry v. New Hampshire 565 U.S. ___ (2012)

 Due Process Clause  • eyewitness identification made under suggestible circumstances
Ginsburg
 Sotomayor
2-06



Perry v. Perez • [full text] 565 U.S. ___ (2012)

 Voting Rights Act of 1965  • preclearance  • redistricting
per curiam
Thomas concurred in the Court's vacatur and remand of a District Court's interim redistricting map for Texas, a state that was subject to preclearance requirements for state redistricting plans under section 5 of the Voting Rights Act. While the Court's decision was based upon the District Court's departures from the state's plan that were not based upon legal flaws or other clear standards, Thomas instead believed that section 5 was unconstitutional. Texas should, therefore, have been able to implement its proposed redistricting map for the 2012 election, unless and until there was a finding against it under the alleged violations of section 2 of the Voting Rights Act or the U.S. Constitution.
1-07



Kawashima v. Holder 565 U.S. ___ (2012)

 immigration law  • conviction for false tax return as basis for deportation Roberts, Scalia, Kennedy, Alito, Sotomayor
Ginsburg
1-08



Kurns v. Railroad Friction Products Corp. 565 U.S. ___ (2012)

 Locomotive Inspection Act  • injury from asbestos exposure  • state law claims for defective design and failure to warn  • federal preemption Roberts, Scalia, Kennedy, Alito, Kagan
Kagan
 Sotomayor
2-09



Coleman v. Court of Appeals of Md. 566 U.S. ___ (2012)

 Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993  • self-care provision  • Fourteenth Amendment  • abrogation of state sovereign immunity
Kennedy
 Scalia
 Ginsburg
1-10



Kappos v. Hyatt 566 U.S. ___ (2012)

 patent law  • introduction of new evidence in challenge to denial of patent application Unanimous
Sotomayor
2-11



Wood v. Milyard 566 U.S. ___ (2012)

 habeas corpus  • court of appeals raising sua sponte deliberately forfeited statute of limitation defense Scalia
Ginsburg
1-12



Reichle v. Howards 566 U.S. ___ (2012)

 First Amendment  • retaliatory arrest  • qualified immunity  • Secret Service Roberts, Scalia, Kennedy, Alito, Sotomayor
Ginsburg
1-13



Elgin v. Department of Treasury 567 U.S. ___ (2012)

 Civil Service Reform Act of 1978  • Merit Systems Protection Board  • jurisdiction over constitutional claims by federal employees Roberts, Scalia, Kennedy, Breyer, Sotomayor
Alito
2-14



Williams v. Illinois 567 U.S. ___ (2012)

 Sixth Amendment  • Confrontation Clause  • expert testimony
Alito
 Breyer
 Kagan
3-15



Arizona v. United States 567 U.S. ___ (2012)

 immigration  • federal preemption  • Arizona SB 1070
Kennedy
 Scalia
 Alito
4-16



Miller v. Alabama 567 U.S. ___ (2012)

 Eighth Amendment  • Cruel and Unusual Punishment  • sentencing of juveniles to life without parole Scalia
Kagan
 Breyer
 Roberts
 Alito
4-17



National Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius 567 U.S. ___ (2012)

 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act  • individual mandate  • Anti-Injunction Act  • Commerce Clause  • Necessary and Proper Clause  • Medicaid expansion  • coercive conditions on federal spending
Roberts
 Ginsburg
 Thomas
Signed jointly with Justices Kennedy, Thomas, and Alito.
4-18



National Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius 567 U.S. ___ (2012)

 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act  • individual mandate  • Commerce Clause  •
Roberts
 Ginsburg
 Scalia, Kennedy, Thomas, Alito
In addition to the four-justice, jointly-authored dissent, Thomas filed a separate dissent.

References

Judicial opinions of Clarence Thomas
U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit (March 6, 1990 – October 17, 1991); by calendar year
  • 1990
  • 1991
Supreme Court of the United States (October 18, 1991 – present); by term
Supreme Court of the United States 2011 term (October 3, 2011 - September 30, 2012)
Opinions by justice:
Chief Justice Roberts | Associate Justices Scalia | Kennedy | Thomas | Ginsburg | Breyer | Alito | Sotomayor | Kagan
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