Clarence Thomas Casts Declaration as America’s Foundation at 250-Year Milestone

3 articles · Updated · Fox News · Jun 15

Justice Clarence Thomas is being spotlighted ahead of America’s 250th anniversary for arguing over more than 30 years that the Declaration of Independence—not just the Constitution—states the nation’s core political principles.
That view treats equality and natural rights as the American system’s moral foundation, with the Constitution designed as the mechanism to secure those pre-existing rights rather than an end in itself.
Thomas has applied that approach in major equal-protection cases, including a 1995 government-contracting ruling and his 2023 concurrence in the Harvard and UNC admissions decisions, where he tied constitutional meaning to the Declaration’s equality clause.
The argument lands as debates over race, identity and civic purpose intensify, framing the July 2026 anniversary as a test of whether the US still shares a common national creed.