OXON HILL, Md.—Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas scolded the actions of the court on Thursday night in a speech saluting the late Justice Antonin Scalia.

Thomas urged attendees of the Federalist Society’s annual convention to carry on Scalia’s legacy and view Scalia’s words—written and spoken—as a prologue in support of originalism. Originalism, a judicial philosophy popularized by Scalia and beloved by right-leaning legal scholars, holds that the Constitution has a static meaning.