Mr Palacio's economy minister is Rafael Correa, a left-wing academic who opposed the decision in 2000 to make the dollar Ecuador's currency, and whose appointment spooked the financial markets.
Thomas put his position straightforwardly in a dissent to a decision, in 2000, that upheld a Missouri law that limited individual contributions to local campaigns to a total of a thousand and seventy-five dollars.
Scouts leaders have been divided over gay rights since at least a 2000 Supreme Court decision that said the Scouts had the right to discriminate against gay members if doing so was a core belief of the group.