Clarence Thomas swings divided Supreme Court in gun possession case

Justice Clarence Thomas was the crucial vote on Thursday in a Supreme Court case involving a felon’s challenge to the government’s interpretation of the frequently litigated Armed Career Criminal Act.

In the case, a plurality of justices sided with Charles Borden, a Tennessee man, who had argued that crimes he committed in a reckless mental state did not trigger a 15-year mandatory minimum sentence, as required in the act. The decision meant that Borden, a felon who was found in illegal possession of a gun, was improperly convicted of a “violent felony” by lower courts.