National Guard deployed as FBI vows to hunt down rioters who attack ICE agents

Following violent anti-ICE riots in Los Angeles on Saturday night, FBI Director Kash Patel warned “if you assault a law enforcement officer, you’re going to jail—period.”

“It doesn’t matter where you came from, how you got here, or what cause you claim to represent,” Patel told Fox News Digital. “If local jurisdictions won’t stand behind the men and women who wear the badge, the FBI will.”

President Donald Trump signed a Presidential Memorandum deploying 2,000 National Guardsmen to Paramount, California after immigration authorities driving in the area were pelted with rocks, stones, and concrete — shattering government vehicle windshields.

U.S. Border Patrol Chief Michael W. Banks shared a photo of one Border Patrol agent’s bloody hand, which was injured by a rock flying through the windshield.

NATIONAL GUARD TO BE DEPLOYED IN LOS ANGELES COUNTY AS ANTI-ICE PROTESTS RAGE: BORDER CZAR TOM HOMAN

Federal sources said agents could have been killed by the flying debris. 

“Doesn’t matter where you came from, how you got here, or what movement speaks to you. If the local police force won’t back our men and women on the thin blue line, we @FBI will,” Patel wrote on X.

The bureau has an entire force dedicated to immigration, with its highest concentration in Los Angeles.

Several arrests have already been made for assault on a federal agent, Banks confirmed.

FEDERAL OFFICIALS SLAM DEMOCRATS FOR ‘DANGEROUS’ RHETORIC AS ICE AGENTS FACE VIOLENT MOBS IN LA, NYC

The fiery Paramount protest marked the second consecutive day of substantial violent riots in Los Angeles.

On Friday night, more than 1,000 Los Angeles rioters surrounded a federal law enforcement building and assaulted ICE agents, slashed tires, and defaced buildings.

ICE SWEEPS THROUGH LA BUSINESSES AS LOCAL DEMOCRATS CRY FOUL OVER TRUMP ADMINISTRATION’S ENFORCEMENT ACTIONS

DHS Secretary Kristi Noem said protesters would not slow ICE agents down, and cautioned rioters.

“If you lay a hand on a law enforcement officer, you will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,” Noem wrote in an X post.

FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino said the agency is seeking information regarding the identity of those throwing rocks at vehicles conducting critical law enforcement operations, noting “it is only a matter of time.”

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“One of the perpetrators in this video is wearing a helmet, and we’re going to use our investigative tools to locate the individual,” Bongino wrote in an X post. “I strongly suggest you turn yourself in, it’s only a matter of time.”

Crowd goes berserk as President Trump enters UFC 316 in New Jersey

President Donald Trump was back at UFC, and the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey, didn’t disappoint with the welcome. 

A thunderous roar befell the sold-out crowd at “The Rock” on Saturday night, as Trump walked into the building with UFC CEO Dana White ahead of a UFC 316 stacked main card.

Trump did his signature dance as he walked along the arena floor, greeting UFC fans as he made his way to his seat ringside. 

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This was a similar welcome he got at the Kaseya Center in Miami at UFC 314, where he had a large entourage with him, including his granddaughter Kai Trump and FBI Director Kash Patel, among others. 

While Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Ivanka Trump were among those with him in New Jersey on Saturday night, someone who has been there at past events wasn’t. 

LOGAN PAUL MAKES PUSH FOR DONALD TRUMP AND ELON MUSK WWE-STYLE FACEOFF

Elon Musk, who was with Trump in Miami, didn’t walk out with him this time as their feud continues. Trump and Musk have spent the past few days quarreling on social media after the feud began after Musk started “wearing thin” on the 47th president for about a month, Fox News senior White House correspondent Peter Doocy reported on Friday. 

The sparring on social media led many to offer their opinion on the matter, including some in the sports world, like boxer Jake Paul.

“One of the problems with the Republican Party is on display today (As a current Republican) We unfortunately have these Alpha male egos and leaders who aren’t mature enough sometimes. They’re 50+ years old and diss tweeting each other Elon and Trump are great but they need to work together and not make America look bad,” Paul wrote on X. 

His older brother, Logan Paul, even teased a WWE-style showdown between Trump and Musk on his social platforms. The elder Paul is a star in WWE now. 

Trump was already in New Jersey ahead of Saturday night’s fight at his golf course in Bedminster. He also commented on Truth Social about New Jersey’s Primary coming up on Tuesday, where he endorsed Republican candidate Jack Ciattarelli for governor. 

“The Great State of New Jersey has a very important Primary coming up on Tuesday. Get Out and Vote for Jack Ciattarelli, who has my Complete and Total Endorsement! His Opponents are going around saying they have my Endorsement, which is not true, I don’t even know who they are! We can’t play games when it comes to Elections, and New Jersey is a very important State that we must WIN. The whole World is watching. Vote for Jack Ciattarelli to, MAKE NEW JERSEY GREAT AGAIN!” Trump wrote. 

When it was time to watch some fights, California’s Kevin Holland defeated Brazil’s Vicente Luque by submission, and he jumped out of the octagon to shake hands with a few including Trump. They exchanged some words before Holland continued his celebration. 

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UFC fighters have been seen shaking hands with Trump after victories in the past. 

The main event for this UFC 316 card will be the second chapter of “Suga” Sean O’Malley against Merab Dvalishvili, the latter of whom won by decision in their first bout. 

Colombian senator shot in the back at campaign event as suspect taken into custody

A Colombian senator and presidential candidate was shot on Saturday in Bogotá, the government and his campaign said. 

Miguel Uribe, 39, was hosting a campaign event in a public park in the Fontibon neighborhood when “armed subjects shot him in the back.”

His party described the attack as serious but didn’t go into detail about his condition. 

WHO IS COLOMBIA’S PRESIDENT GUSTAVO PETRO, FORMER MARXIST GUERRILLA AND COUNTRY’S FIRST LEFTIST LEADER? 

He is a member of the opposition right-wing Democratic Center party, founded by former Colombian President Álvaro Uribe.

The party called the attack “an unacceptable act of violence.”

FBI’S KASH PATEL VOWS ‘YOU’RE GOING TO KNOW EVERYTHING WE KNOW’ ABOUT TRUMP ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT

Videos circulating on social media appeared to show Uribe after the attack covered in blood with a possible head wound as people attempt to stem the bleeding. 

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A suspect was taken into custody, Bogotá’s mayor said, according to Colombia Reports. 

Gaines responds after Biles suggests she ‘bully someone your own size’ on social media

Simone Biles surprisingly sparred on social media with OutKick host Riley Gaines Friday, and Gaines has responded. 

Biles took offense to Gaines calling out a Minnesota high school whose softball team won a state championship Friday with a transgender pitcher. 

Marissa Rothenberger, a transgender athlete, threw a shutout to help Champlin Park High School win a state title. 

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Gaines, the host of the “Gaines for Girls” podcast, noted that comments on X were turned off on the Minnesota State High School League’s post with a photo of the team on social media. 

“To be expected when your star player is a boy,” Gaines wrote. 

OLYMPIAN SIMONE BILES FACES FIERCE BACKLASH AFTER CLASH WITH RILEY GAINES OVER TRANS ATHLETES DEBATE

Biles responded, calling Gaines “truly sick” for her comment and saying Gaines should be “uplifting” transgender athletes.

Gaines responded with a video on social media. 

“Yesterday, Simone Biles — the Olympic gymnast, the best of the best, bar none; there is no one even remotely in her league — I guess, in an attempt to be inclusive and virtuous, decided to sell out all girls who have dreams to achieve and to succeed, and to specifically personally attack and body shame me,” Gaines said.

“Let’s get this straight. It’s my job. It’s the women’s job. This is what Simone Biles is saying: It’s the women’s job to find a way for the men’s feelings to be validated, for their identity to be affirmed. That’s not my job, actually, at all. So, to say I should be doing this is insane. 

“If she wants to use her platform to uplift men and women’s sports, then, by all means. But it’s certainly not my job. And I don’t believe it’s the job of any woman to do this.”

Biles’ comments to Gaines included a dig at the former college swimmer losing to Lia Thomas, a trans swimmer, in 2022. 

“All of this campaigning because you lost a race. Straight up sore loser,” Biles wrote. 

“You should be uplifting the trans community and perhaps finding a way to make sports inclusive OR creating a new avenue where trans feel safe in sports. Maybe a transgender category IN ALL sports!! But instead… You bully them… One things for sure is no one in sports is safe with you around!!!!!”

Gaines also addressed a second post from Biles, which told Gaines to “bully someone your own size, which would ironically be a male.”

“Number one, she’s acknowledging there are differences, like physiological, biological differences, between men and women in saying this,” Gaines responded. “Secondly, I’m 5-foot-5, which might seem like a giant to someone who’s like, 4-foot-7, 4-foot-8, but I’m pretty standard size for a woman, just, like, relatively muscular, right? Being an athlete, I would imagine Simone would understand that. 

“But I weigh like 135 pounds, 5-foot-5 of pretty much pure muscle. Again, if anyone would understand that, you would think it’s Simone Biles, a woman who has historically been scrutinized for having a very muscular, masculine-looking body.”

Finally, Gaines commended Biles for calling out the horrible sexual abuse acts committed by former Team USA gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar. However, Gaines believes there’s a contradiction.

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“This is a woman who has been incredibly brave in calling out and witnessing the horrific sexual abuse that she and hundreds of other female gymnasts faced at the hands of one sexual predator — that predator being Larry Nassar — in the same breath, believing that vulnerable women should be forced to strip down naked in front of men and locker rooms, so long as it makes the man feel happy,” Gaines said. 

“If Larry Nassar came out as trans, I don’t think it’s responsible or safe for him to be housed in a women’s prison.”

Studies have shown that nearly 80% of people believe that biological males should stay out of girls and women’s sports.

Vance says Musk made ‘huge mistake’ with Trump-Epstein accusations in heated feud

Vice President JD Vance told comedian and podcast host Theo Von on Saturday that Elon Musk made a “huge mistake” by accusing President Donald Trump of being implicated in the Jeffrey Epstein files.

Vance warned that Trump and Musk being embroiled in a “blood feud” with one another will be bad for the country and will likely not end well for the Tesla CEO either.

“I think it’s a huge mistake for him to go after the president like that. And I think that if he and the president are in some blood feud — most importantly — it’s going to be bad for the country, but I think it’s going to be, I don’t think it’ll be good for Elon either,” Vance argued.

Musk referenced Jeffrey Epstein in relation to Trump on Thursday as part of a larger attack against the president and Republican leaders over their budget reconciliation bill.

“Time to drop the really big bomb. [Trump] is in the Epstein files. That is the real reason they have not been made public. Have a nice day, DJT!” Musk wrote on X. “Mark this post for the future. The truth will come out.”

Vance told the comedian Trump “didn’t do anything wrong with Jeffrey Epstein” and that his loyalties will always be with the president.

He noted that he hopes Musk will eventually “come back into the fold,” but doubted the possibility of that coming true after his tweet accusing Trump of being involved with Epstein.

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When asked by Von why he believed Musk’s “feelings were hurt,” Vance speculated that the culmination of the violent threats against him and his company, paired with Congress’ budget reconciliation bill, may have pushed him over the edge.

“His businesses are being attacked nonstop. They’re literally like firebombing some of his cars,” he pointed out. “So I think part of it is this guy got into politics and has suffered a lot for it. But I mean, and I get the frustration there… Congress, you got this spending bill. But the main purpose of the bill is not actually spending or cutting spending, though it does cut a lot of spending.”

The vice president acknowledged Musk’s concerns over the spending bill that allegedly started the feud between the two and noted that disagreements over its contents likely caused some “frustrations.”

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“The main purpose of the bill is to prevent the biggest tax increase, but I understand — it’s a good bill — it’s not a perfect bill,” Vance said. “The process in D.C., if you’re a business leader, you probably get frustrated with that process because it’s more, you know, bureaucratic. It’s more slow-moving. So I think there’s just some frustrations there.”

Former Disney star speaks on being shot in face during husband’s birthday celebration

Christy Carlson Romano is speaking out about nearly losing an eye after she was shot in the face four months ago. 

During an appearance on the upcoming June 10 episode of the “Not a Damn Chance!” podcast, via a sneak peek by People magazine, the 41-year-old former Disney star recalled the terrifying incident while she was shooting clay pigeons with her husband, Brendan Rooney, for his birthday.

Asked how it happened, Romano explained she was not “at liberty to say specifics,” according to People. The actress previously revealed on Instagram that she was “hit in five places,” including below her eye. 

Romano shared details for the first time about what transpired.

“It’s a birdshot that got sprayed in my direction by another party, and essentially it was within 200 feet, which means really fast and hot,” she told hosts Neen Williams and Frankland Lee. 

“They weren’t malicious,” Romano clarified. “It wasn’t aggravated assault. It’s what happened.” 

CHRISTY CARLSON ROMANO ‘SHOT IN THE EYE’ DURING CLAY PIGEON SHOOTING OUTING WITH HER HUSBAND FOR HIS BIRTHDAY

The “Even Stevens” star then emphasized the importance of gun safety and described her initial response. 

“I feel very out of body about it. … It’s pretty wild,” she said. “I’m shocked, and what goes through my head immediately is, ‘Oh that’s dope, I just got shot.’ And then I go, ‘Oh now I’m gonna die,'” she said. 

“I take a knee. My husband witnessed it and was like, ‘Hey are you hit?’ because I didn’t scream. I didn’t do anything. I was just out of body.”

Romano recalled she had a knee-jerk reaction upon being shot that stemmed from her time on the third season of the FOX reality TV series “Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test.”

In the show, celebrity contestants take on grueling military exercises and challenges under the direction of ex-Special Forces operatives. 

Romano explained that the contestants were trained to give a thumbs-up to let their fellow cast members know that they were OK during the series’ perilous challenges.

The “Kim Possible” alum recalled that, out of habit, she gave Rooney a thumbs-up immediately after she was shot. 

“He was like, ‘Oh, you’re good.’ And I was like, ‘No I’m hit.’ He goes, ‘Oh s—,’” Romano recalled of her husband’s reaction. She remembered that Rooney rushed to her aid and had to restrain himself from retaliating against the other party.

“So, he’s running to me and making sure I’m OK, and he’s fighting the urge to hurt the person … but he’s been practicing stoicism recently, and there was something in him,” Romano recalled. 

“He was immediately into action mode, evaluating me and ran to get the car. 

“I felt this huge rush that I’d never felt before where I was starting to get really woozy. I think it was shock.”

Romano told the hosts she didn’t experience any pain initially and described the thoughts that were running through her head, including her fears her children might be affected. The actress shares daughters Isabella, 7, and Sofia, 5, with Rooney. 

“I was covered in blood from my forehead … and I said three things. I was like, ‘Am I gonna die? Who’s gonna take care of the girls? Is my career over?’” she recalled.

Romano explained that she came close to being blinded or killed. 

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“If my head would’ve been tilted in any other direction, I would have been blind in my right eye. Or if I had turned my head, I could have gotten hit in a softer side of my skull, and I would have potentially been dead,” Romano said. 

“It’s still in my eye,” she said of the pellets from the shotgun.

“I have a fragment still in my forehead, and I have a fragment still behind my eye, which is 1 millimeter away from blinding me.”

Romano previously explained on Instagram that the lead fragment behind her eye had to remain in her face because removing it could leave her blind. 

The shot fragment lodged in her skull will also remain in place because doctors said it will expedite her healing process. 

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During her podcast interview, Romano told hosts she put on a brave face at first and was making jokes about her medical crisis after she arrived at the hospital. 

“In retrospect, I was trying to be funny and not cry because I wanted the people around me to feel more calm so that they could take better care of me,” Romano said. 

The former Broadway star admitted that it has been difficult to accept she is a “gunshot survivor.”

Clay pigeon shooting is an outdoor sport in which upside-down circular disks made of limestone and pitch used as targets are propelled into the air by machines called traps. Shooters use shotguns, with each shot projecting hundreds of small lead balls to hit the clay pigeons. 

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The sport is typically not considered dangerous as long as safety measures are followed.

Actress opens up about Botox experience and cautious approach to injectables

Jennifer Garner is getting candid about her experience with injectables and use of Botox.

During a recent interview with Harper’s Bazaar, the 53-year-old actress shared her thoughts on plastic surgery and revealed that she has tried Botox but was displeased with the results of the cosmetic procedure. 

“As far as injectables go, I think just find somebody fantastic and proceed with caution,” Garner shared. “I don’t do a ton, and Botox doesn’t work very well for me; that’s why I wear bangs a lot.” 

“I like to be able to move my forehead, and it’s such a big part of my face,” she added. 

JENNIFER GARNER SEEN KISSING BOYFRIEND JOHN MILLER AS SHE SPENDS TIME WITH BEN AFFLECK FOR EASTER

“I have, like, a five-head,” the “Alia” alum quipped.

Garner also told Harper’s Bazaar that she has considered plastic surgery, but she was advised against it by medical professionals.

“I don’t judge whatever makes anyone look or feel their best,” she said. “I haven’t needed it yet, but I can’t say that I haven’t said to doctors before, ‘Do I need to do this?’”

“And I’ve had really nice doctors who have just been like, ‘No,'” Garner recalled.

However, Garner admitted that she hasn’t ruled out potentially going under the knife in the future. 

“God only knows 10 years from now what the conversation will be. I’m not there yet,” she said. 

The “Daredevil” actress explained that she believes sunscreen is crucial to maintaining a youthful appearance, noting that she was glad that she began protecting herself from the sun early in life. 

“As someone who was not a sunbather in my 20s — I just didn’t have that patience — I luckily did wear sunscreen. I can tell you, the products have only gotten better, every single iteration, every single year, and I’m grateful for them now that I’m in my 50s,” Garner said.

During her interview with Harper’s Bazaar, Garner also reflected on whether there is a part of her appearance she has come to love more as she has aged.

“Part of the gift of being my mother’s daughter is that I haven’t spent a lot of time stressing about my physical appearance,” the actress said. “I don’t spend a lot of time in the mirror.”

“Sometimes I could spend more time in the mirror; I’m sure I’ve had things in my teeth or a bump in my hair,” Garner acknowledged.. “So there are pluses and minuses to it.”

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“If you look through, like, the last 20-plus years of paparazzi pictures of me, you would see images and say, ‘You would be best served by spending more time thinking about what you look like,’” she joked.

“But the flip side of that is that I’m not really that stressed about aging or things changing,” she continued. “I have my moments, of course, where I’ll look in the monitor at work and be like, ‘Who is that? Ah, that’s me!’” 

“But I think less is more, as far as focusing on yourself too much in that way. What are you going to do? I want to age. I want to live to be 100. I don’t expect to look at 100 like I look today. I want to wear every single bit of those 100 years and feel great about them.”

While speaking with the outlet, Garner shared that she is content with being her age and does not wish that she was younger.

“I’m very grateful to be exactly this age,” the mother of three said. “I’m trying to soak it up. I feel like I’m living in my power. I’m living in my wisdom. I’m living in my joy and my capacity to do and get things done. So I’m just very aware of my luck and the grace that’s been shown to me.”

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During a 2022 interview with Elle, Garner shared words of caution for young women who were considering getting fillers.

“My advice is to look at the mirror less and be cautious when it comes to injecting anything into your face,” she said. “Be very, very incredibly judicious and wait as absolutely long as possible to add anything. Don’t think that you’re 37 and you need to be shooting up your face.”

While speaking with People magazine in March 2024, the Golden Globe Award winner opened up about how she embraces aging.

“Honestly, mostly, I am grateful just to be alive,” Garner said. “And I’m grateful for the wisdom that I’ve gleaned out of these years and really grateful to be able to watch other women go through this process of life so gracefully.”

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The “!3 Going on #0” star also reflected on her advice for young women who fear growing older.

“‘Take care of yourself, but don’t be scared.’ Aging is a gift,'” she said.

Mystery solved? Archaeologists find proof of Roanoke colonists’ fate

A team of researchers believes they may have cracked one of America’s most enduring legends: Where did the settlers of the Roanoke Colony go?

The Roanoke Colony, also known as the Lost Colony, was the first English settlement attempt in the United States. A group of over 100 colonists settled on North Carolina’s Roanoke Island in 1587, led by Sir Walter Raleigh.

John White, the governor of the colony, returned to England for supplies in 1587. When he came back to Roanoke Island in August 1590, he found the settlement mysteriously abandoned – and all the colonists, including his daughter Eleanor Dare and his granddaughter Virginia Dare, gone.

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One of the only clues remaining at the site was the word “CROATOAN” carved into a palisade. It either referred to Croatoan Island, which is now called Hatteras Island, or the Croatoan Indians.

The mystery has haunted Americans and Brits for the past four centuries, with several investigations launched into the matter. Whether the colonists were killed by Native Americans, starved to death or left for greener pastures has eluded historians.

But new research suggests the colonists’ fate may not have been tragic after all. 

Mark Horton, an archaeology professor at Royal Agricultural University in England, spoke with Fox News Digital about his findings.

“This is metal that has to be raised to a relatively high temperature … which, of course, [requires] technology that Native Americans at this period did not have.”

For the past decade, the British researcher has worked with the Croatoan Archaeological Society’s Scott Dawson to uncover the mystery. Horton said they’ve uncovered proof the colonists assimilated into Croatoan society, thanks to a trash heap. (See the video at the top of this article.)

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“We’re looking at the middens — that’s the rubbish heaps — of the Native Americans living on Hatteras Island, because we deduced that they would have very rapidly been assimilated into the Native American population,” Horton said. 

The smoking gun at the site? Hammerscale, which are tiny, flaky bits of iron that come from forging iron. 

Horton said it’s definitive proof of iron-working on Hatteras Island, which could have only been done by English colonists. 

“The key significance of hammerscale … is that it’s evidence of iron-working, of forging, at that moment,” he said.

“Hammerscale is what comes off a blacksmith’s forge.”

ARCHAEOLOGIST SHEDS NEW LIGHT ON ASTONISHING DISCOVERY OF WRECKED SLAVE SHIPS: ‘STRANDED ON THE COAST’

Horton added, “This is metal that has to be raised to a relatively high temperature … which, of course, [requires] technology that Native Americans at this period did not have.”

Hammerscale shows that the English “must have been working” in this Native American community, according to the expert.

But what if the hammerscale came longer after the Roanoke Colony was abandoned? Horton said that’s unlikely.

“We found it stratified … underneath layers that we know date to the late 16th or early 17th century,” he said. “So we know that this dates to the period when the lost colonists would have come to Hatteras Island.”

“It’s a combination of both its archaeological position but also the fact that it’s evidence of people actually using an English technology.”

At the site, archaeologists also found guns, nautical fittings, small cannonballs, an engraved slate and a stylus, in addition to wine glasses and beads – which all paint a vivid picture of life on Hatteras Island in the 17th century.

When asked if the colonists could have been killed in a later war, Horton said they survived among the Croatoans and successfully assimilated.

“We have one little snippet of historical evidence from the 1700s, which describes people with blue or gray eyes who could remember people who used to be able to read from books,” he said. “Also, they said there was this ghost ship that was sent out by a man called Raleigh.”

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Horton added, “We think that they assimilated into the Native American community and their descendants, their sons, their granddaughters, their grandsons carried on living on Hatteras Island until the early 18th century.”

When asked if he’s officially solved the mystery, Horton said that though the archaeological evidence is definitive, the legend will probably still endure.

“Have we solved the mystery? Well, you know, it’s pretty good evidence, but there’s always more work to be done,” he said.

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Horton added, “And people love mysteries. They hate resolving things one way or the other. So I’m sure that the mystery will continue, you know, whatever the scientific evidence says.”

Liberal justices side with Thomas in landmark ruling that puts DEI programs at risk

Clarence Thomas has spent his professional life trying to return American law to the Declaration of Independence’s founding promise that individuals should be judged as individuals rather than as members of racial, gender, or ethnic groups. It seems that his peers on the high court have been listening.

Thomas’ belief in individual rights precedes his time on the court. For example, in a 1985 law review article, Thomas discussed his daily responsibilities of enforcing the nation’s civil rights laws as chairman of the EEOC. He wrote: “I intend to take EEO enforcement back to where it started by defending the rights of individuals who are hurt by discriminatory practices. … Those who insist on arguing that the principle of equal opportunity, the cornerstone of civil rights, means preferences for certain groups have relinquished their roles as moral and ethical leaders in this area.”

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Justice Thomas has reiterated that American law protects individual rather than groups rights throughout his three-and-a-half decades on the nation’s highest court. In 1995’s Missouri v. Jenkins, for instance, Thomas became the first Supreme Court justice to directly criticize Brown v. Board of Education (1954). Although he called state-mandated segregation “despicable,” he said that the Court was wrong in 1954 to rely on disputable social science evidence to declare segregation unconstitutional rather than invoking the “constitutional principle” that “the government must treat citizens as individuals, and not as members of racial, ethnic or religious groups.”

Justice Thomas has made similar pronouncements in many other judicial opinions. His concurring opinion in 2007’s Parents Involved in Community Schools v. Seattle School District No. 1 is perhaps the strongest articulation of his conception of equality: “The dissent attempts to marginalize the notion of a colorblind Constitution by consigning it to me and Members of today’s plurality. … But I am quite comfortable in the company I keep. My view of the Constitution is Justice Harlan’s view in Plessy: ‘Our Constitution is color-blind, and neither knows nor tolerates classes among citizens.’” 

More recently, Justice Thomas wrote in a concurring opinion in the Supreme Court’s 2023 decisions holding that colleges and universities cannot consider race in admissions decisions that “While I am painfully aware of the social and economic ravages which have befallen my race and all who suffer discrimination, I hold out enduring hope that this country will live up to its principles so clearly enunciated in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States: that all men are created equal, are equal citizens, and must be treated equally before the law.”

Last week’s Supreme Court decision in Ames v. Ohio Department of Youth Services signals that proponents of diversity, equity, and inclusion programs should stop pretending that they are complying with the law. After all, one of the most liberal members of the Court, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, wrote in an  opinion for a unanimous Court that the “background circumstances” rule imposed by several lower courts of appeal requiring members of a majority group to satisfy a heightened evidentiary standard to prevail on a Title VII discrimination claim is inconsistent with the text of Title VII and the Supreme Court’s anti-discrimination precedents.

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Justice Jackson’s opinion for the Court reversing the lower courts might as well have been penned by Justice Thomas himself. Justice Jackson quoted the text of Title VII that makes it illegal to take an adverse employment action against “any individual.” She further quoted a 2020 Supreme Court decision, Bostock v. Clayton County, that held that the “law’s focus on individuals rather than groups [is] anything but academic.” She added: “By establishing the same protections for every ‘individual’—without regard to that individual’s membership in a minority or majority group—Congress left no room for courts to impose special requirements on majority-group plaintiffs alone.”

Justice Thomas joined Justice Jackson’s opinion for the Court “in full.” But he also issued a concurring opinion in which he suggested that the “background circumstances” rule is not only inconsistent with the statutory text of Title VII but is “plainly at odds with the Constitution’s guarantee of equal protection.” Most important for present purposes, Thomas made clear that if proponents of DEI are hoping that the Ames decision has nothing to do with their DEI programs, they are sorely mistaken. “American employers have long been ‘obsessed’ with ‘diversity, equity, and inclusion’ initiatives and affirmative action plans,” he wrote. “Initiatives of this kind have often led to overt discrimination against those perceived to be in the majority.”

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When Justice Antonin Scalia died in 2016, Court watchers openly speculated about who would replace him as the intellectual leader of the conservative legal movement. Clarence Thomas has unquestionably filled that role. After all, in Ames even Justice Thomas’s liberal colleagues on the nation’s highest court conceded that American law protects individual rather than group rights.

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