Atrios has a follow-up on the Clarence Thomas story, with a transcript of what the Justice of the Alabama Supreme Court said:

Following up on this post, here’s the transcript of what an Alabama state SC justice said about Clarence Thomas, sent in by a reader:

PARKER: “Just moments before I placed my hand on the Holy Scripture, Justice Thomas soberly addressed me and those in attendance. He admonished us to remember that the worth of a justice should be evaluated by one thing, and by one thing alone: whether or not he is faithful to uphold his oath _ an oath which as Justice Thomas pointed out is not to the people; it’s not to the state; it’s not even to the Constitution, which is one to be supported, but is an oath which is to God Himself.”

As Atrios points out, this moderates slightly what was originally reported that Thomas said. However, that does not mean that what he said is acceptable from a justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. Thomas’s job is still to be bound wholly within the parameters of American law. God has nothing to do with it. Conceivably, this still means that any SCOTUS precedent that Thomas interprets as contravening what Thomas believes God’s Law to be is meaningless.