Thomas criticizes Supreme Court priorities in Florida murder case

Justice Clarence Thomas, joined by Justice Samuel Alito, sharply criticized the Supreme Court’s decision to vacate a lowercourt ruling in a Florida murder case involving convicted inmate Gary Whitton. In his dissent, Thomas argued that the court focused on a minor procedural issue while ignoring more significant cases affecting race, free speech, and military families. He said the lower court’s handling of posttrial DNA evidence did not affect the outcome because the evidence against Whitton was overwhelming. Thomas also said Whitton had not properly exhausted his statecourt claims, meaning relief may have been unavailable regardless of the DNA issue. He used the dissent to argue that the court is too often unwilling to give relief to what he called lawabiding Americans in other cases.