Clarence Thomas

Clarence Thomas
Steve Petteway, Collection of the Supreme Court of the United States · Public domain · source
Name	Clarence Thomas
Caption	Official portrait, 2022
Office	Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States
Nominator	George H. W. Bush
Term start	October 23, 1991
Predecessor	Thurgood Marshall
Birth date	23 June 1948
Birth place	Pin Point, Georgia, U.S.
Spouse	Kathy Ambush, 1971, 1984, Virginia Thomas, 1987
Education	College of the Holy Cross (BA), Yale University (JD)
Party	Republican

Clarence Thomas is an American lawyer and jurist who has served as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States since 1991. Appointed by President George H. W. Bush, he is the second African American to serve on the Court, succeeding the pioneering civil rights lawyer Thurgood Marshall. His tenure has been defined by a staunchly originalist and textualist judicial philosophy, which has placed him at the center of significant legal debates, particularly regarding the interpretation of civil rights laws and the Fourteenth Amendment.

Early life and education

Clarence Thomas was born in 1948 in the small, predominantly Black community of Pin Point, Georgia. He was raised in poverty by his grandparents, Myers Anderson and Christine Anderson, in Savannah, Georgia, after his father abandoned the family. His early education was in segregated Catholic schools in Savannah, including St. Benedict the Moor School and St. John Vianney Minor Seminary. Thomas initially attended Conception Abbey in Missouri with the intent of becoming a priest but left after encountering racial prejudice. He then earned a Bachelor of Arts in English literature from the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts, where he helped found the Black Student Union. He went on to receive his Juris Doctor from Yale Law School in 1974 as part of an affirmative action program, an experience he later stated left him with lingering doubts about the value of his degree.

Legal career and early judicial appointments

After graduating from Yale, Thomas worked as an assistant attorney general in Missouri under Attorney General John Danforth. In 1979, he moved to Washington, D.C., to work as a legislative assistant to Senator Danforth. He then served in the administration of President Ronald Reagan, first as Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights in the Department of Education (1981–1982) and later as Chairman of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) from 1982 to 1990. At the EEOC, he was criticized by some civil rights groups for deemphasizing systemic discrimination cases in favor of individual complaints. In 1990, President George H. W. Bush appointed him to the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, a traditional stepping stone to the Supreme Court.

Supreme Court nomination and confirmation

President Bush nominated Thomas to the Supreme Court on July 1, 1991, to fill the seat vacated by the retiring Justice Thurgood Marshall. His nomination was immediately controversial, with civil rights organizations like the NAACP and the Urban League opposing him due to his conservative record at the EEOC and skepticism toward affirmative action. The Senate Judiciary Committee hearings were contentious, focusing on his judicial philosophy. The process was upended when allegations of sexual harassment by former EEOC subordinate Anita Hill were leaked to the press. The subsequent televised hearings became a national spectacle, polarizing the public along racial and gender lines. Thomas famously denounced the proceedings as a "high-tech lynching." The Senate ultimately confirmed him by a narrow 52–48 vote on October 15, 1991.

Jurisprudence and judicial philosophy

Justice Thomas is a committed adherent of originalist and textualist interpretation. He believes the Constitution should be understood according to its original public meaning at the time of its adoption and that statutes should be interpreted based solely on their text. This philosophy often leads him to take positions favoring state sovereignty and a limited federal government. He is a frequent critic of the doctrine of substantive due process, which underpins rights like abortion access, arguing it lacks a textual basis. His approach consistently aligns him with the Court's most conservative bloc, though he often writes separately to advocate for more radical reinterpretations of precedent, particularly in areas like the Commerce Clause and the Incorporation of the Bill of Rights.

Views on civil rights and race

Thomas's views on civil rights and race have been a defining and controversial aspect of his career. He is a prominent critic of affirmative action and race-conscious policies, viewing them as patronizing and constitutionally suspect under the Equal Protection Clause. In cases like Grutter v. Bollinger (2003) and Fisher v. University of Texas (2016), he has argued that the Fourteenth Amendment mandates a colorblind constitution. He has also expressed skepticism toward broad interpretations of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, notably in his concurrence in Shelby County v. Holder (2013). His perspective is deeply influenced by his personal narrative of overcoming segregation through self-reliance and his belief that government racial classifications, even for remedial purposes, perpetuate stigma.

Notable opinions and writings

Thomas has authored numerous significant concurrences and dissents that outline his constitutional vision. In McDonald v. City of Chicago (2010), his concurrence provided a detailed originalist history supporting the incorporation of the Second Amendment against the states. In Obergefell v. Hodges (2015), he dissented, arguing the Fourteenth Amendment's Due Process Clause does not guarantee a right to same-sex marriage. In the affirmative action case Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard (2023), he wrote a lengthy concurrence tracing what he described as the "grievous wrong" of racial classifications. His dissent in Kelo v. City of New London (2005) on eminent domain is also widely cited.

Personal life and public perception

Thomas is married to Virginia Thomas, a conservative political activist. The couple resides in Fairfax Station, Virginia. He is known for his deep Catholic faith, his love of RVs and traveling across the United States, and his historic silence during oral arguments, which he broke only rarely for over a decade. Public and academic perception of Thomas has been intensely polarized. Admirers view him as a principled originalist and a courageous independent thinker. Detractors, including many of his jurisprudence as a reversal of the civil rights legacy of his predecessor, Thurgood Marshall. He has been the subject of significant media scrutiny, including a series of his personal conduct, and a number of controversies over the United States.