U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Clarence Thomas appears before swearing in Pam Bondi as U.S. Attorney General in the Oval Office at the White House on Feb. 05, 2025, in Washington, DC. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
The case centered on Air Force Staff Sergeant Cameron Beck, who was killed in 2021. Beck had been leaving a military base in Missouri on his motorcycle to meet his wife and then seven-year-old for lunch when a civilian government employee, distracted by her cell phone, struck Beck. He died on the scene, and the woman later admitted in a plea deal to causing the accident.
When Beck’s widow tried to sue the government for her husband’s death, a federal court rejected the claim, as did the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit. Both cited the Feres case, finding that the United States was immunized from such lawsuits because Beck was in the military.
The Supreme Court building is seen in Washington, D.C. (AP/Jon Elswick)
"If the Court does not want to overrule its precedents in this area, it should at least be willing to enforce them," Thomas wrote.
Thomas said Beck "was not ordered on a military mission to go home for lunch with his family. So Mrs. Beck should have prevailed under Feres."
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
Four justices must support taking up a petition for the Supreme Court to do so. Justice Sonia Sotomayor said in a statement she supported rejecting the application, but she explained that she felt Congress needed to adjust the laws to override current precedents.
"I write … to underscore that this important issue deserves further congressional attention, without which Feres will continue to produce deeply unfair results like the one in this case and the others discussed in Justice Thomas’s dissenting opinion," Sotomayor wrote.
Ashley Oliver is a reporter for Fox News Digital and FOX Business, covering the Justice Department and legal affairs. Email story tips to ashley.oliver@fox.com.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/justice-thomas-rebukes-scotus-denying-widows-case-says-lets-government-dodge-blame