Clarence Thomas 6858 226078467 2008-07-16T18:59:44Z Briaboru 284038 /* External links */ {{Infobox Judge | name = Clarence Thomas | image = Clarence Thomas official.jpg | imagesize = | caption = Clarence Thomas | office = [[Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States|Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court]] | termstart = [[October 19]] [[1991]] | termend = | nominator = [[George H. W. Bush]] | appointer = | predecessor = [[Thurgood Marshall]] | successor = Incumbent | office2 = | termstart2 = | termend2 = | nominator2 = | appointer2 = | predecessor2 = | successor2 = | birthdate = {{birth date and age|1948|06|23}} | birthplace = [[Pin Point, Georgia|Pin Point]], [[Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]] | deathdate = | deathplace = | spouse = Kate Ambush Thomas (div.)<br />[[Virginia Lamp Thomas]] | alma_mater = [[College of the Holy Cross]] <br /> [[Yale University]] | religion = [[Roman Catholic Church|Roman Catholic]] }} '''Clarence Thomas ''' (born [[June 23]],[[1948]]) is an American [[jurist]] and has been an [[List of Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States|Associate Justice]] of the [[Supreme Court of the United States]] since 1991. He is the second [[African American]] to serve on the nation's highest court, after [[Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States|Justice]] [[Thurgood Marshall]]. Appointed by President George H. W. Bush, Thomas's career in the Supreme Court has seen him take a [[Conservatism|conservative]] approach to cases while adhering to the principle of [[originalism]]. ==Early life== Clarence Thomas was born in [[Pin Point, Georgia]] in a small community outside Savannah.<ref>http://www.flickr.com/photos/peachy92/272311762/</ref> His father left his family when he was only two years old,<ref name="Wash_Post_Mag_2002">Merida K, Fletcher M, [http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&node=&contentId=A23641-2002Jul30 "Supreme Discomfort"], ''Washington Post Magazine'', August 4, 2002. Accessed May 7, 2007.</ref> leaving his mother Leola Anderson to take care of the family. When Thomas was seven they went to live with his mother's father, Myers Anderson, in [[Savannah, Georgia|Savannah]]. He had a [[fuel oil]] business that also sold ice; Thomas often helped him make deliveries. His grandfather believed in hard work and self-reliance and would counsel him to "never let the sun catch you in bed in the morning." In 1975, when Thomas read ''[[Race and Economics]]'' by economist [[Thomas Sowell]], he found an intellectual foundation for this philosophy.<ref name="Wash_Post_Mag_2002"/> The book criticized social reforms by government and instead argued for individual action to overcome circumstances and adversity. He was also influenced by [[Ayn Rand]]'s bestselling book ''[[The Fountainhead]]'', and would later require his staffers to watch the 1949 film version.<ref name="Wash_Post_Mag_2002"/> Raised [[Roman Catholic Church|Roman Catholic]] (he later attended an [[Episcopal Church in the United States of America|Episcopal]] church with his wife, but returned to the Catholic Church in the late 1990s), Thomas considered entering the priesthood, attending St. John Vianney's Minor Seminary on the [[Isle of Hope]] near Savannah and, briefly, [[Conception Seminary College]], a [[Roman Catholic Church|Roman Catholic]] [[seminary]] in [[Missouri]]. Thomas told interviewers<ref>http://www.conceptionabbey.org/TowerTopics/TTWinter2001/CThomas.htm</ref> that he left the seminary (and the call for priesthood) after overhearing a student say, in response to the news that Dr. [[Martin Luther King, Jr.]] had been shot, "Good, I hope the [[Bitch#Son of a bitch|SOB]] dies." At the [[College of the Holy Cross]] he helped found the Black Student Union and graduated in 1971 with an [[Bachelor of Arts|A.B.]], ''[[cum laude]]'' in English. He then attended [[Yale Law School]] from which he received a [[Juris Doctor]] (J.D.) degree in 1974. To [[Dennis Prager]], Judge Thomas has stated his opinion that, in his early career, his Yale law degree was not taken seriously by law firms to which he applied, who assumed that it was obtained because of affirmative action policies.<ref>http://www.townhall.com/TalkRadio/Show.aspx?RadioShowID=3&ContentGuid=8b54ead4-9c5c-4dff-acba-aedc11a408db</ref> Thomas has one child, Jamal Adeen, from his first marriage. This marriage, to Kathy Grace Ambush, lasted from 1971 until their 1984 divorce.<ref>[http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/21/AR2007042101475.html Washington Post]</ref> Thomas married [[Virginia Lamp Thomas|Virginia Lamp]] in 1987. Since joining the Supreme Court, Thomas requested an [[annulment]] of his first marriage from the Roman Catholic Church, which was granted by the Tribunal of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Arlington. He was reconciled to the Church in the mid-1990s and remains a practicing Catholic.<ref>[http://insightscoop.typepad.com/2004/2007/10/did-clarence-th.html Insight Scoop | The Ignatius Press Blog: Did Clarence Thomas just say he's not Catholic?<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref><ref>[http://www.adherents.com/people/pt/Clarence_Thomas.html The religion of Clarence Thomas, Supreme Court Justice<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> In 1994, Thomas performed, at his home, the wedding ceremony for radio host [[Rush Limbaugh]]'s third marriage, to Marta Fitzgerald.<ref>[http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=980DE2D7123BF933A05756C0A962958260&n=Top%2fReference%2fTimes%20Topics%2fPeople%2fT%2fThomas%2c%20Clarence NYT Chronicle Article, 5/30/94]</ref> As his wife grew up in [[Nebraska]] and attended college at the [[University of Nebraska]], Thomas is an avid [[Nebraska Cornhuskers]] fan who attends Husker football games, and in 2007 met with the 2006 National Championship Husker Volleyball team, telling them he bled Husker red.<ref>[http://www.columbustelegram.com/articles/2007/06/19/sports/sports1nuvolleyball.txt Columbus Telegram]</ref><ref>Rush Limbaugh, [http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/home/daily/site_091707/content/01125107.guest.html.guest.html Rush Recounts His Trip to Lincoln], www.rushlimbaugh.com, September 17, 2007.</ref> ==Career== === Early career === [[Image:Thomaseeoc.jpg|right|thumb|Official Equal Employment Opportunity Commission portrait of Thomas]] From 1974 to 1977, Thomas was an Assistant [[Attorney General of Missouri]] under then State Attorney General [[John Danforth]]. When Danforth was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1976 to 1979, Thomas left to become an attorney with [[Monsanto]] in [[St. Louis, Missouri]]. He returned to work for Danforth from 1979 to 1981 as a [[Legislative Assistant]]. Both men shared a common bond in that both had studied to be ordained (although Thomas was Roman Catholic and Danforth was ordained Episcopalian). Danforth was to be instrumental in championing Thomas for the Supreme Court. In 1981, he joined the [[Ronald Reagan|Reagan]] administration. From 1981 to 1982, he served as [[Assistant Secretary of Education for the Office of Civil Rights]] in the [[United States Department of Education|U.S. Department of Education]]. From 1982 to 1990 he was Chairman of the US [[Equal Employment Opportunity Commission]] ("EEOC"). In 1990, President [[George H. W. Bush]] appointed Thomas to the [[United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit]]. === Supreme Court appointment === {{Main|Clarence Thomas Supreme Court nomination}} On [[July 1]], [[1991]] President [[George H.W. Bush]] nominated Thomas to replace [[Thurgood Marshall]] who had recently announced his retirement.<ref>[http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D0CE1DD1E3EF931A35754C0A967958260 New York Times]</ref> Marshall had been the only African American justice on the court. The selection of Thomas preserved the existing racial composition of the court, but it was seen as likely to move the ideological balance to the right. [[American Bar Association|American Bar Association's]] (ABA) rating for Judge Thomas was split between "qualified" and "not qualified." Organizations including the [[NAACP]], the [[Urban League]] and the [[National Organization for Women]] opposed the appointment based on Thomas's criticism of [[affirmative action]] and suspicions that Thomas might not be a supporter of the Supreme Court judgment in ''[[Roe v. Wade]]''. Under questioning during confirmation hearings, Thomas repeatedly asserted that he had not formulated a position on the ''Roe'' decision.<ref>It is routine for nominees, at all levels of the Federal judiciary, to refuse to discuss cases during their confirmation hearings that might come before them if they are confirmed. [[Bill Clinton|Clinton]] appointed Associate Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Steven Breyer both refused to discuss ''Roe'' before the Judiciary Committee, even though Ginsburg has worked for years for the ALCU defending it. Despite this nearly universal refusal of nominees to discuss hot button issues such as ''Roe'', members of the Senate Judiciary Committee nearly always try to draw the nominee's view out during confirmation hearings.</ref> Some of the public statements of Thomas's opponents foreshadowed the confirmation fight that would occur. One such statement came from activist Florence Kennedy at a July 1991 conference of the National Organization for Women in [[New York City]]. Making reference to the failure of [[Robert Bork]]'s nomination, she said of Thomas, "We're going to 'bork' him."<ref>[http://opinionjournal.com/diary/?id=85000412 Wall Street Journal's Opinion Journal]</ref> The term has since become a part of the American political lexicon. Liberals have generally used the term to mean defeating conservative nominees for allegedly being "out of the judicial mainstream"{{Fact|date=June 2008}}; conservatives, conversely, use it to describe what they consider unscrupulous tactics to derail the nominations of nominees unacceptable to left-leaning interest groups{{Fact|date=June 2008}}. ==== Allegations of sexual harassment==== Toward the end of the confirmation hearings, information was leaked to the press from an [[FBI]] interview with [[Anita Hill]], an attorney who had worked for Thomas at the Department of Education and the EEOC. On [[October 11]], [[1991]], Hill was called to testify during the Senate confirmation hearing. Hill said: "He spoke about acts that he had seen in pornographic films involving such matters as women [[bestiality|having sex with animals]] and films showing [[group sex]] or [[rape]] scenes....On several occasions, Thomas told me graphically of his own sexual prowess....Thomas was drinking a Coke in his office, he got up from the table at which we were working, went over to his desk to get the Coke, looked at the can and asked, 'Who has put pubic hair on my Coke?'"<ref>Opening Statement: Sexual Harassment Hearings Concerning Judge Clarence Thomas," Women's Speeches from Around the World.</ref> Hill also indicated that Thomas made reference to the pornographic actor [[Long Dong Silver]]. Angela Wright, who worked with Thomas at the EEOC, told the [[Senate Judiciary Committee]] that Thomas had repeatedly made comments to her, much like those he allegedly made to Hill, including pressuring her for dates and commenting on her body. Rose Jourdain testified that Wright had discussed Thomas' behavior with her at the time it occurred, and that she had considered it [[sexual harassment]]. In light of the fact that Thomas had testified that he had fired Wright for calling another employee a "[[faggot]]," <ref>[http://etext.virginia.edu/etcbin/ot2www?specfile=/lv6/workspace/yitna/yitna.o2w&act=text&offset=4974269&textreg=1 Senate Judiciary Committee: The Nomination Of Clarence Thomas To The Supreme Court<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> Sen. [[Joseph Biden]], chair of the Judiciary Committee, decided against publicly hearing Wright's testimony. Another former Thomas assistant, Sukari Hardnett, made further damaging charges against him. Although Hardnett made it clear she was not accusing Thomas of sexual harassment, she provided the Judiciary Committee with sworn testimony that "if you were young, black, female, reasonably attractive and worked directly for Clarence Thomas, you knew full well you were being inspected and auditioned as a female." Additionally, Ellen Wells, John W. Carr, Judge Susan Hoerchner, and Joel Paul testified that Hill had discussed Thomas's actions at the time she worked for Thomas and that she had characterized them as sexual harassment.<ref>HEARINGS BEFORE THE COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY UNITED STATES SENATE ONE HUNDRED SECOND CONGRESS FIRST SESSION ON THE NOMINATION OF CLARENCE THOMAS TO BE ASSOCIATE JUSTICE OF THE SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES</ref> Thomas denied all allegations of sexual harassment and sexual impropriety by Hill and the others. Of the committee's investigation of the accusations, Thomas said: "This is not an opportunity to talk about difficult matters privately or in a closed environment. This is a circus. It's a national disgrace. And from my standpoint, as a black American, it is a high-tech [[lynching]] for uppity blacks who in any way deign to think for themselves, to do for themselves, to have different ideas, and it is a message that unless you kowtow to an old order, this is what will happen to you. You will be lynched, destroyed, caricatured by a committee of the U.S. Senate rather than hung from a tree."<ref>[http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/etcbin/toccer-new-yitna?id=UsaThom&images=images/modeng&data=/lv6/workspace/yitna&tag=public&part=24 Hearing of the Senate Judiciary Committee on the Nomination of Clarence Thomas to the Supreme Court], ''Electronic Text Center, University of Virginia Library'', October 11, 1991.</ref> After extensive debate, the committee sent the nomination to the full Senate without a recommendation either way. Thomas was confirmed by the Senate with a 52-48 vote on [[October 15]], [[1991]], the narrowest margin for approval in more than a century.<ref>Hall, Kermit (ed), ''The Oxford Companion to the Supreme Court of the United States'', page 871, Oxford Press, 1992</ref> The final floor vote was not along strictly party lines: 41 [[United States Republican Party|Republicans]] and 11 [[United States Democratic Party|Democrats]] voted to confirm while 46 Democrats and two Republicans ([[Jim Jeffords]] (R-[[Vermont|VT]]) and [[Bob Packwood]]<ref>[[Bob Packwood|Packwood]] himself would later be forced to resign from the Senate in the face accusations of sexual harassment, abuse and assault by numerous former staffers and lobbyists.</ref> (R-[[Oregon|OR]])) voted to reject the nomination. On [[October 23]], [[1991]], Thomas took his seat as the 106th Associate Justice of the Supreme Court. == Judicial philosophy == [[Image:Virginia Thomas.JPG|thumb|right|250px|Clarence Thomas being sworn in by [[Byron White]], as wife [[Virginia Lamp Thomas]] looks on.]] Clarence Thomas is a conservative who acknowledges having some "[[libertarian]] leanings."<ref>Kauffman B., [http://www.reason.com/news/show/33217.html "Clarence Thomas"], ''Reason Magazine'', November 1987, Accessed May 7, 2007.</ref> Thomas is often described as an [[originalist]]. Although he has been compared to [[Antonin Scalia]], he is less devoted to [[precedent]] than Scalia, who told Thomas' biographer that Thomas "doesn't believe in [[stare decisis]], period. If a constitutional line of authority is wrong, he would say let's get it right."<ref>[http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A31117-2004Oct13.html "A Big Question About Clarence Thomas"], ''The Washington Post'', October 14, 2004. Accessed May 7, 2007.</ref> In ''[[Elk Grove Unified School District v. Newdow]]'' and ''[[Cutter v. Wilkinson]]'', Thomas argued that the [[Establishment Clause]] was not incorporated to states by the [[Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution|Fourteenth Amendment]], directly challenging the precedent ''[[Everson v. Board of Education]]''. He has advocated the reversal of ''[[Roe v. Wade]]'', joining the dissenting opinion in ''[[Planned Parenthood v. Casey]]'', and writing the concurrence in ''[[Gonzales v. Carhart]]''. Thomas voted with Scalia 91 percent of the time during the court's 2006–07 session. <ref>Greenhouse, Linda.[http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/01/washington/01scotus.html "In Steps Big and Small, Supreme Court Moved Right"], ''New York Times'', July 1, 2007.</ref> He voted with Justice [[John Paul Stevens]] the least, only 36% of the time.<ref>Greenhouse, Linda. [http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/01/washington/01scotus.html "In Steps Big and Small, Supreme Court, Moved Right"], ''[[The New York Times]]'', [[July 1]], [[2007]].</ref> === Commerce Clause and states' rights === Thomas consistently supports a strict interpretation of the Constitution's [[interstate commerce clause]] and supports limits on the power of [[federal government]] in favor of [[states' rights]]. In both ''[[United States v. Lopez]]'' and ''[[United States v. Morrison]]'' Thomas wrote a separate concurring opinion arguing for the original meaning of the commerce clause and criticizing the substantial effects formula. He wrote a sharply worded dissent in ''[[Gonzales v. Raich]]'', a decision that permitted federal government to [[arrest]], [[prosecute]], and [[imprison]] patients who were using [[medical marijuana]]. However, he previously authored ''[[United States v. Oakland Cannabis Buyers' Cooperative]]'', an earlier case that also permitted the federal government to inspect medical marijuana dispensaries (the ''Oakland'' case dealt with the issue of [[medical necessity]] rather than federalism). === Capital punishment === Thomas was among the dissenters in both ''[[Atkins v. Virginia]]'' and ''[[Roper v. Simmons]]'', which held that the Constitution prohibited the application of the [[death penalty]] to certain classes of persons. In ''[[Kansas v. Marsh]]'', his opinion for the court indicated a belief that the Constitution affords states broad procedural latitude in imposing the death penalty provided they remain within the limits of ''[[Furman v. Georgia]]'' and ''[[Gregg v. Georgia]]'', the 1976 case in which the court had reversed its 1972 ban on death sentences as long as states followed certain procedural guidelines. === Fourth Amendment === In the cases regarding the [[Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution|Fourth Amendment]], which prohibits unreasonable [[search and seizure|searches and seizures]], Thomas often favors [[police]] over [[defendant]]s, although not always—he was in the majority in ''[[Kyllo v. United States]]'' and wrote separately in ''[[Indianapolis v. Edmond]]'' the opinion that the Constitution does not allow random stops of drivers. His opinion for the court in ''[[Board of Education v. Earls]]'' upheld drug testing for students involved in extracurricular activities, and wrote again for the court in ''[[Samson v. California]]'', permitting random searches on [[parole]]es. He dissented in the case ''[[Georgia v. Randolph]]'', which prohibited warrantless searches that one resident approves and the other opposes, arguing that the case was controlled by the court's decision in ''[[Coolidge v. New Hampshire]]''. === Free speech=== Among Supreme Court Justices, Thomas is typically the second most likely to uphold [[free speech]] claims.<ref>Volokh, Eugene. [http://www.law.ucla.edu/volokh/howvoted.htm How the Justices Voted in Free Speech Cases, 1994-2002], UCLA Law</ref> He has voted in favor of [[First Amendment to the United States Constitution|First Amendment]] claims in cases involving a wide variety of issues, including [[pornography]], [[campaign finance|campaign contributions]], political leafletting, religious speech, and commercial speech. On occasion, however, he disagrees with free speech claimants. For example, he dissented in ''[[Virginia v. Black]]'', a case that struck down a [[Virginia]] statute that banned [[cross-burning]], and authored ''[[American Civil Liberties Union v. Ashcroft (2002)|ACLU v. Ashcroft]]'', which referred the [[Child Online Protection Act]] back to District Court, where COPA was overturned. In addition, Thomas believes that students have limited free speech rights in public schools, a view he expressed in his concurrence in ''[[Morse v. Frederick]]''. In that case, he argued that the precedent of ''[[Tinker v. Des Moines]]'' should be overruled. ===Executive power=== Thomas has a favorable view toward the power of the [[executive branch]]. He was the only justice that agreed with all arguments of the [[George W. Bush administration|Bush administration]] in ''[[Hamdi v. Rumsfeld]]''. He also dissented in ''[[Hamdan v. Rumsfeld]]'', which held that [[Guantanamo military commission|military commission]]s set up by the Bush administration to try [[Guantanamo Bay detainment camp|detainees at Guantanamo Bay]] "violate both the [[UCMJ]] and the four [[Geneva Conventions]]...."<ref>[http://www.supremecourtus.gov/opinions/05pdf/05-184.pdf Hamdan v. Rumsfeld, Supreme Court Syllabus], pg. 4., point 4.</ref> ==Approach to oral arguments== Thomas is well-known for listening rather than asking questions during oral arguments of the Court. He has offered several reasons for this, the most strongly supported of which is that he developed a habit of listening as a young man. Thomas comes from the [[Gullah|Gullah/Geechee]] cultural region of coastal Georgia and is a member of this distinct African American ethnic group; he grew up speaking the [[Gullah language]], which is a hybrid of English and various West African languages. Later in life, Thomas began to acquire an enthusiasm for his heritage, writing about it in the [[December 14]] [[2000]] issue of ''[[The New York Times]]'': :"When I was 16, I was sitting as the only black kid in my class, and I had grown up speaking a kind of a dialect. It's called Geechee. Some people call it [Gullah] now, and people praise it now. But they used to make fun of us back then. It's not standard English. When I transferred to an all-white school at a young age, I was self-conscious, like we all are... So I...just started developing the habit of listening."<ref>[http://www.edu-cyberpg.com/Linguistics/GullahGeechee.html Linguistics]</ref> Thomas has stated that he wishes to write a book about the culture.<ref>[http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2001/06/0607_wiregullah_2.html Gullah]</ref> Another theory, asserted by one set of Thomas biographers, is that he believes oral arguments are mostly unnecessary, and that the back-and-forth in oral arguments is often disrespectful to the attorneys trying to present their cases. (This view has been supported by [[Ann Scarlett]], Professor at the [[Saint Louis University School of Law]], who was one of his law clerks.)<ref> This information was related in a 2006 conversation with law student Daren Rich, when asked why Justice Thomas was often silent during oral arguments.</ref> The same biographers also theorize Thomas is uncomfortable in the rapid pacing of oral argument discussions, the supposition being he prefers a more cerebral, quieter environment in which to carefully contemplate matters of constitutional law.<ref>[http://www.scotusblog.com/movabletype/archives/2007/05/ask_the_author_21.html Blog]</ref> In comments in November 2007, Thomas proffered his position on the subject: "My colleagues should shut up!" he said to an audience at [[Hillsdale College]] in [[Michigan]]. He later explained, "I don't think that for judging, and for what we are doing, all those questions are necessary", and compared his profession to the medical arts: "Suppose you're undergoing something very serious like surgery and the doctors started a practice of conducting seminars while in the operating room, debating each other about certain procedures and whether or not this procedure is this way or that way. You really didn't go in there to have a debate about [[gall bladder]] surgery." <ref>[http://www.usnews.com/blogs/washington-whispers/2007/11/29/this-is-not-perry-mason.html U.S. News & World Report]</ref> Though Thomas is silent during most arguments before the Supreme Court, he had, up until his 16th term, spoken a few times each term.<ref>[http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F50D14F63C590C748DDDAB0994DA404482 New York Times]</ref> During the oral argument for ''NASA v. FLRA'',<ref>[http://supct.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/98-369.ZS.html 527 U.S. 229] (1999)</ref> In ''[[Apprendi v. New Jersey]]'' (2000), Thomas raised an issue which would become important in the opinions ("the distinction... between an element of the offense and an enhancement factor"). In ''[[Capitol Square Review Board v. Pinette]]''<ref>[http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/94-780.ZS.html 515 U.S. 753]</ref> (1995), ''[[Virginia v. Black]]'' (2003), and ''[[Georgia v. Randolph]]'' (2006), Thomas presaged his eventual dissent with comments at oral argument. Upon the conclusion of the 2006-2007 term of the Supreme Court, it was widely noted that Thomas had failed to utter a single word from the bench during the course of the entire term.<ref>[http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1179479103297 Law.com]</ref> In November 2007, in a tongue-in-cheek manner, the Law Blog of the ''[[Wall Street Journal]]'' initiated the "When-Will-Justice-Thomas-Ask-a-Question Watch", noting that the justice had not asked a single question during oral arguments since [[February 22]], [[2006]].<ref>[http://blogs.wsj.com/law/2007/11/06/the-when-will-justice-thomas-ask-a-question-watch/ Wall Street Journal Law Blog]</ref> [[February 22]], [[2008]], marked the two year anniversary of Thomas's last question during oral argument, a milestone which was noted by several media outlets, including [[CNN]]. <ref>[http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/02/25/thomas.silence.ap/index.html CNN article on lack of questions for 2 years]</ref> Another reference to his silence was made in the [[Boston Legal]] episode [[List of Boston Legal Episodes|The Court Supreme]] where [[Denny Crane]] made a bet regarding whether [[Alan Shore]] could get the fictional Justice Thomas to talk. == Bibliography == * Thomas, Clarence (2007). ''My Grandfather's Son: A Memoir'', [[HarperCollins|Harper]], ISBN 0-06-056555-1. ==References== {{citations broken|section|date=January 2008}} {{reflist}} == Sources == *[[David Brock|Brock, David]] (1994). ''The Real Anita Hill'', Touchstone, ISBN 0-02-904656-4 *Brooks, Roy L. ''Structures of Judicial Decision Making from Legal Formalism to Critical Theory'' *Carp, Dylan (1998, September). [http://web.archive.org/web/20060213182727/http://www.libertysoft.com/liberty/features/67carp.html Out of Scalia's Shadow]. ''[[Liberty (1987)|Liberty]]''. *Edward Shills and Max Rheinstien, Max Weber on Law in Economy and Society *Foskett, Ken (2004). ''Judging Thomas: The Life and Times of Clarence Thomas'', William Morrow, ISBN 0-06-052721-8 *[[Edward Lazarus|Lazarus, Edward]] (2005, Jan. 6). [http://writ.news.findlaw.com/lazarus/20050106.html Will Clarence Thomas Be the Court's Next Chief Justice?] [[FindLaw]]. *Mayer, Jane, and Jill Abramson (1994). ''Strange Justice: The Selling of Clarence Thomas'', Houghton Mifflin Company, ISBN 0-452-27499-0 *Onwuachi-Willig, Angela (2005). [http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=638281 Just Another Brother on the SCT?: What Justice Clarence Thomas Teaches Us About the Influence of Racial Identity]. ''Iowa Law Review, 90''. *Presser, Stephen B. (2005, Jan.-Feb.) [http://www.legalaffairs.org/issues/January-February-2005/review_presser_janfeb05.msp Touting Thomas: The Truth about America's Most Maligned Justice]. ''[[Legal Affairs]]''. *Thomas, Andrew Peyton (2001). ''Clarence Thomas: A Biography'', Encounter Books, ISBN 1-893554-36-8 * [http://www.supremecourtus.gov/about/biographiescurrent.pdf Supreme Court official biography] ([[Portable Document Format|PDF format]]) * [http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&node=&contentId=A23641-2002Jul30&notFound=true Supreme Discomfort] * [http://chnm.gmu.edu/courses/122/hill/hillframe.htm An Outline of the Anita Hill and Clarence Thomas Controversy] * [http://www.oyez.org/oyez/resource/legal_entity/106/biography U.S. Supreme Court Multimedia] * [http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/users/yitna/ Transcripts of Senate Judiciary Committee Hearing on the Nomination of Clarence Thomas to the Supreme Court] * [http://www.conceptionabbey.org/TowerTopics/TTWinter2001/CThomas2.htm A Conversation with Justice Thomas] * [http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/31/politics/31mirth.html?ex=1137301200&en=48dac6e9f4366fa6&ei=5070, "So, Guy Walks Up to the Bar, and Scalia says..."] * [http://justicethomas.blogspot.com The Justice Thomas Appreciation Page] ==External links== {{wikiquote}} *[http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/07_11/b4025080.htm Clarence Thomas Speaks Out] BusinessWeek *[http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/nge/ArticlePrintable.jsp?id=h-2840 Entry on Clarence Thomas] by John P. Vanzo in [http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/nge/Home.jsp The New Georgia Encyclopedia] *[http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=56322 23 June 2007 59th Birthday Commemoration Article "Clarence Thomas . . . My Friend" by Ellis Washington in WorldNetDaily.com] *[http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=58238 20 October 2007 Book Review of his memoir Article "Justice Clarence Thomas' "My Grandfather's Son" by Ellis Washington in WorldNetDaily.com] *[http://www.city-journal.org/html/17_2_clarence_thomas.html 2007 ''City Journal'' article on Thomas] *[http://www.businessweek.com/print/magazine/content/07_11/b4025080.htm?chan=g 2007 interview in ''BusinessWeek''] *[http://people.virginia.edu/~ybf2u/Thomas-Hill/1011a06.html October 11, 1991 evening session of U.S. Supreme Court confirmation hearings]. *[http://fora.tv/2007/11/15/Supreme_Court_Justice_Clarence_Thomas/ Clarence Thomas at the 2007 Annual National Lawyers Convention - November 2007] *[http://www.mygrandfathersson.com/ Overview of Personal Memoir] *[http://straylight.law.cornell.edu/supct/justices/thomas.bio.html Biography of Clarence Thomas] - Cornell Law School *[http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/21/AR2007042101475.html?nav=most_emailed Washington Post article about Thomas] *[http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/clarencethomashightechlynching.htm Complete text, audio, video of Judge Thomas 'High Tech Lynching' statement to the Senate Judiciary Committee]from AmericanRhetoric.com {{s-start}} {{s-legal}} {{s-bef|before=[[Robert Bork]]}} {{s-ttl|title=[[United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit|Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit]]|years=1990-1991}} {{s-aft|after=[[Judith Ann Wilson Rogers]]}} {{s-bef|before=[[Thurgood Marshall]]}} {{s-ttl|title=[[List of Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States|Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States]]|years=1991-present}} {{s-inc}} {{s-prec|usa}} {{s-bef|before=[[David Souter]]}} {{s-ttl|title=[[United States order of precedence]]|years=as of 2008}} {{s-aft|after = [[Ruth Bader Ginsburg]]}} {{s-end}} {{clarencethomasopinions}} {{start U.S. Supreme Court composition| CJ=[[William Rehnquist|Rehnquist]]| }} {{U.S. Supreme Court composition court lifespan|cj=William Hubbs Rehnquist|years=1986–2005| }} {{U.S. Supreme Court composition 1991-1993}} {{U.S. Supreme Court composition 1993-1994}} {{U.S. Supreme Court composition 1994-2005}} {{U.S. Supreme Court composition CJ| CJ=[[John Glover Roberts, Jr.|Roberts]]| }} {{U.S. Supreme Court composition court lifespan|cj=John Glover Roberts, Jr.|years=2005-present| }} {{U.S. Supreme Court composition 2005-2006}} {{U.S. Supreme Court composition 2006-present}} {{end U.S. Supreme Court composition}} <!-- Metadata: see [[Wikipedia:Persondata]] --> {{Lifetime|1948|LIVING|Thomas, Clarence}} {{Persondata |NAME= Thomas, Clarence |ALTERNATIVE NAMES= |SHORT DESCRIPTION= American [[jurist]] and [[List of Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States|Associate Justice]] of the [[Supreme Court of the United States]] |DATE OF BIRTH= [[June 23]], [[1948]] |PLACE OF BIRTH= [[Pin Point, Georgia|Pin Point]], [[Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]] |DATE OF DEATH= |PLACE OF DEATH= }} [[Category:African American Catholics]] [[Category:American Roman Catholics]] [[Category:College of the Holy Cross alumni]] [[Category:Federalist Society members]] [[Category:Georgia (U.S. state) lawyers]] [[Category:Gullah]] [[Category:Judges of the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit]] [[Category:Living people]] [[Category:People from Georgia (U.S. state)]] [[Category:People from McLean, Virginia]] [[Category:United States Supreme Court justices]] [[Category:Yale Law School alumni]] [[Category:African American memoirists]] [[de:Clarence Thomas]] [[es:Clarence Thomas]] [[fr:Clarence Thomas]] [[he:קלרנס תומס]] [[nl:Clarence Thomas]] [[no:Clarence Thomas]] [[pl:Clarence Thomas]] [[simple:Clarence Thomas]]