托马斯在独立宣言讲话中将进步主义描绘为一种与威尔逊、希特勒、斯大林、墨索里尼和毛相关的全球权力追逐运动，并把许多自称保守派描绘为缺乏勇气的“制度主义者”，为了回避批评而改口。 在9名法官的法庭中，共和党任命了其中6名，但真正决定结果的是投票集团：罗伯茨、卡瓦诺和巴雷特反复偏好遵循先例、范围更窄、面向多数的联盟式裁决；而托马斯、阿利托和戈萨奇则被描绘为更激进的“原教旨”孤立派，卡根是最明显的自由派制度主义者，索托马亚和杰克逊与共识关联更少。
该法院的制度性语调呈混合态：在前两位首席大法官时期，它推翻先例的次数更少，并且仍以大致相似比例作出一致裁决，但托马斯在5月7日达到接近35年任期并成为历史上第二任期最长的法官时，正与教义上的明显转向同步。 在他看来，原意释法（originalism）已成为中心学说，而在正式可见性之下，制度主义法官如今反而是少数。
Isgur将凝聚力下降归因于废除阻挠议事（filibuster），她认为这取代了跨党派信誉审查，改为内部“纯洁度”竞争。 与每年约30万美元的法官薪酬相比，诉讼律师中有数百万人收入使“个人品牌化”经济出现：法官发布更多异议书和协同意见、审理更少案件，并在不公开推翻的情况下改造先例；9名法官中的8名曾为联邦巡回法官、8名毕业于常春藤联盟法学院、6名是最高法院前书记官，构成了与1954年布朗案法庭形成鲜明反差（当时有5名曾任选举公职、1名无法学位）。
The context argues the court is drifting toward ideological maximalism and lone-wolf judging despite an appointment profile that seems institution-friendly. Thomas’s speech attacked progressivism as a global power movement and warned conservatives who fear criticism become “institutionalists,” and with nine justices in total, Republicans appointing six does not produce consensus.
Voting behavior is therefore group-based: Roberts, Kavanaugh and Barrett often form a precedent-friendly majority mode, while Thomas, Alito and Gorsuch embody a harder originalist line; among liberals Kagan is the clearest institutionalist and Sotomayor/Jackson are less consensus-driven. As of May 7, Thomas became the second-longest-serving justice at nearly 35 years, and the article suggests originalism has moved from a minority impulse to a central judicial methodology.
Procedurally, precedent reversals are down versus the previous two chief justices and unanimity is roughly unchanged, yet internal fragmentation is rising through more dissents and concurrences. The same court is deciding fewer cases and reshaping doctrine without explicit reversal, while its bench profile is numerically concentrated (8 former federal appellate judges, 8 Ivy League law grads, 6 former Supreme Court clerks, none with elected-office backgrounds) compared with Brown’s 1954 Court having 5 former elected officials and one justice without a law degree.
Source: The Supreme Court has become a great place to build your brand
Subtitle: On the left and the right, justices are becoming more preoccupied with their own ideas than the court’s institutional legitimacy
Dateline: 5月 07, 2026 07:49 上午
