Justice Thomas warns progressivism is a threat to America in rare public remarks

This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. ©2026 FOX News Network, LLC. All rights reserved. Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. Market data provided by Factset. Powered and implemented by FactSet Digital Solutions. Legal Statement. Mutual Fund and ETF data provided by LSEG. Speaking at UT Austin to mark the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, Thomas urged young people to have courage and reject growing 'cynicism' and hostility in the US. (Credit: C-SPAN) Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas issued a blistering critique of modern-day progressivism in a rare public speech on Wednesday, describing the modern political philosophy as a threat to America's founding principles. Speaking to a packed auditorium of students and faculty at the University of Texas at Austin to mark the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, Thomas, the Supreme Court's longest-serving justice, urged the nation to revisit the philosophical foundations of U.S. governance. He said Wednesday that values embraced by the nation's founders have "fallen out of favor" in recent decades and urged younger genera