What did Martha Stewart say? Entrepreneur’s comment about Justice Clarence Thomas leaves internet divided

Martha Stewart called out Associate Justice of the US Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas after he shared his opinion regarding the reversal of laws surrounding contraception usage, same-gender relationships, and same-gender marriages. His opinion elicited a controversial response from Martha Stewart, which sparked a lot of debate online.

The comment was made on June 24, mere hours after the decision to overturn the 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling was made public. Following his statement, the 80-year-old entrepreneur replied to an Instagram post by author Josh Ostrovsky (aka The Fat Jewish), where he had stated that "old white men controlled minorities and women’s rights."

Martha Stewart's response about Justice Clarence Thomas (Image via thefatjewish/Instagram)

However, Stewart’s response pointed out that the Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, Clarence Thomas, was a black man. In retrospect, Ostrovsky’s statement was not accurate as the panel of nine justices responsible for the ruling on the reversal of Roe v. Wade abortion rights also included three female judges (Amy Coney Barrett, Elena Kagan, and Sonia Sotomayor). However, Justices Elena Kagan, Sonia Sotomayar and Stephen G. Brayer voted against it.

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What did Martha Stewart say about Clarence Thomas following the reversal of the ruling made on 1973’s Roe v. Wade case?

A day after the decision to overturn the 1973 ruling on abortion rights was finalized by the US Supreme Court, author and entrepreneur Martha Stewart called out Justice Clarence Thomas. In her reply to an Instagram post, Stewart added:

“An old black man who doesn’t know who he is.”

As mentioned above, this comment was in response to author Josh Ostrovsky's post, who insinuated that “minorities and women are still controlled by white women.” Martha Stewart added Clarence Thomas to the group as well, despite not referring to him by name.

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Netizens are divided over Martha Stewart’s comment about Justice Clarence Thomas’ opinion

This comment by the businesswoman confused many as some thought this had a racial undertone. However, others stood by Stewart and claimed that her comments were not racist. Contrary to what some may believe, a legion of African-Americans also came to defend Stewart and questioned the credibility of those who were labeling her as a racist.

Meanwhile, some white as well as black Twitter users targeted Stewart and accused her of supporting eugenics. They also alleged that Stewart had launched a racial attack against Justice Thomas. The 74-year-old has served as the Associate Justice of the US Supreme Court since 1991 and is associated with the Republican Party. Thus, a few online comments also talked about the negative aspects of his opinion.

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Justice Clarence Thomas’ comments

In his statement, Clarence Thomas mentioned that the Supreme Court should:

“Reconsider all of this Court’s substantive due process precedents, including Griswold, Lawrence, and Obergefell.”

The US Judge further wrote:

“Because any substantive due process decision is ‘demonstrably erroneous’... we have a duty to ‘correct the error’ established in those precedents... After overruling these demonstrably erroneous decisions, the question would remain whether other constitutional provisions guarantee the myriad rights that our substantive due process cases have generated.”

The cases he mentioned include Griswold v. Connecticut, Lawrence v. Texas, and Obergefell v. Hodges. The rulings in these cases declared that states have no right to ban contraceptives, legalized same-gender intercourse, and legalized gay marriages, respectively. Thus, Clarence Thomas’ statement to reverse these rulings generated a lot of vitriol online.