Clarence Thomas: Difference between revisions
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{{Image|Clarence Thomas official SCOTUS portrait.jpg|right|300px|Clarence Thomas in 2007.}} | |||
'''Clarence Thomas''' (1948-?) is an [[United States of America|American]] jurist who is currently serving as an Associate Justice on the U.S. Supreme Court. He was nominated by President [[George H. W. Bush]] and took his seat in 1991. Thomas is the only incumbent [[African-American]] justice on the court and the second one in history, after [[Thurgood Marshall]], who was his predecessor. Prior to his career on the Supreme Court, he served as the chairman for the [[Equal Employment Opportunity Commission]] and a judge on the District of Columbia circuit court. | '''Clarence Thomas''' (1948-?) is an [[United States of America|American]] jurist who is currently serving as an Associate Justice on the U.S. Supreme Court. He was nominated by President [[George H. W. Bush]] and took his seat in 1991. Thomas is the only incumbent [[African-American]] justice on the court and the second one in history, after [[Thurgood Marshall]], who was his predecessor. Prior to his career on the Supreme Court, he served as the chairman for the [[Equal Employment Opportunity Commission]] and a judge on the District of Columbia circuit court. | ||
Revision as of 13:11, 8 March 2023
Clarence Thomas (1948-?) is an American jurist who is currently serving as an Associate Justice on the U.S. Supreme Court. He was nominated by President George H. W. Bush and took his seat in 1991. Thomas is the only incumbent African-American justice on the court and the second one in history, after Thurgood Marshall, who was his predecessor. Prior to his career on the Supreme Court, he served as the chairman for the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and a judge on the District of Columbia circuit court.
Clarence Thomas was born in Georgia. He attended Holy Cross College in Worcester, Massachusetts, where he graduated with a bachelor’s degree in 1971. He went on to graduate from Yale Law School in 1974. For a while in the 1970s, he was the assistant attorney general of the State of Missouri.
His 1991 U.S. Senate confirmation hearings for the job on the Supreme Court were contentious. University of Oklahoma law professor Anita Hill, who had previously been Thomas's assistant at the EEOC, made allegations of sexual harassment against him, which Thomas denied. The Senate confirmed his appointment on a 52-48 vote.
Unlike Marshall, Thomas is very conservative, arguably the most conservative on the current court. He rejects that the due process in the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendment guarantee the right to an abortion or engage in homosexual behavior, as he has opposed the ruling of Roe v. Wade and dissented in Lawrence v. Texas. Thomas espouses a strict constructionist view on the Commerce Clause to limit the power of the federal government to regulate intrastate activities. He also generally favor the law enforcement over criminal defendants in search and seizure cases.
His spouse, Virginia "Ginni" Thomas is a conservative activist. In 2010, she called the Brandeis University phone number of Professor Anita Hill and left a voicemail asking for an apology for her accusations against Justice Thomas in his confirmation hearings years earlier. Professor Hill called this action "inappropriate" and reported the incident to police, who were able to confirm that it was indeed, Ginni Thomas that left the message. Ms. Thomas confirmed publicly that it was her that left the message and said that she meant no offense in the action, that it was an ""olive branch". There are varying opinions on whether her activity does, or does not, constitute the appearance of conflict of interest for Justice Thomas.