Thomas Bid to Revisit Touchstone Cases Gains Gorsuch Vote

Justice Clarence Thomas is known for supporting legal ideas and theories that are outside of the mainstream, and he often champions them alone in dissents that seem unlikely to win over his colleagues.

But Thomas gained a partner Wednesday in support of a view of the Constitution that could be incredibly consequential were it to eventually find favor with a majority of justices.

Justice Neil Gorsuch joined Thomas in support of incorporating the Eighth Amendment’s excessive fines clause to the states by way of the privileges or immunities clause instead of via the Fourteenth Amendment’s due process clause.

But wait, ...