Clarence Thomas
April 17, 2026 — Scott Johnson
This past Wednesday Justice Thomas spoke at the University of Texas, Austin, to commemmorate the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. The Civitas Institute has posted video of the speech on YouTube (the video at the bottom) with this introduction: Justice Clarence Thomas delivered a moving address at The University of Texas at Austin on the continued relevance of the Declaration of Independence. Describing the Declaration as the foundation
»
July 4, 2025 — John Hinderaker
The leading intellectual on the Supreme Court, Justice Clarence Thomas, is also the people’s justice. Is that paradoxical? Not to me, it isn’t. We live under the rule of law, which means that we live under the rule of words. Words can, of course, be ambiguous, and applying them to a particular situation can be tricky. But any good-faith effort to apply the laws or the Constitution to a particular
»
April 2, 2025 — Scott Johnson
Let us take note of political developments yesterday. New Jersey Senator Corey Booker completed speaking for 25-hours on the Senate floor. The AP story on Booker’s speech presents Booker’s performance as he wants it to be seen — as a heroic endeavor. The length of Booker’s performance surpassed the late Senator Strom Thurmond’s filibuster against the 1957 Civil Rights Act at a time when Thurmond was a segregationist and Democrat.
»
February 25, 2024 — John Hinderaker
One of the big stories in the New York Times today is another Clarence Thomas smear, but with a twist: “Justice Thomas Hires Law Clerk Accused of Sending Racist Text Messages.” The story is about Crystal Clanton, who graduated from the Antonin Scalia Law School at George Mason University in 2022. She is coming off a clerkship with Judge William Pryor of the 11th Circuit, who calls her “an outstanding
»
July 4, 2023 — Scott Johnson
Justice Thomas is the greatest Supreme Court justice of the modern era. His concurrence in SFFA v. Harvard is a kind of capstone, but it represents only one area in which Justice Thomas has sought to rectify and deepen the Court’s constitutional jurisprudence. William Wolfe’s tweet below expresses my feeling perfectly. Thank you, Justice Thomas.
»
July 4, 2023 — Scott Johnson
With his glorious concurrence in SFFA v. Harvard, today has become a day to salute Justice Clarence Thomas, or so it seems to me. Here is a man who has thought his own way through to a true understanding of the principle of equality that we celebrate today. Justice Thomas’s concurrence in part smacks down Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson’s dissent. Justice Jackson’s dissent faithfully represents the groupthink denying the equality
»
May 4, 2023 — Scott Johnson
Mark Paoletta, a self-described friend of Justice Thomas, has posted the statement immediately below in response to the latest ProPublica hit piece on the justice headlined “Clarence Thomas Had a Child in Private School. Harlan Crow Paid the Tuition.” The subhead of ProPublica’s story features a quote from Richard Painter, the University of Minnesota clown whom I have written about many times before. Paoletta’s statement is accessible via Twitter. I
»
April 29, 2023 — Scott Johnson
The fabricated controversy over Justice Thomas and his billionaire friend Harlan Crow has missed what should be the real controversy. Crow contributed $105,000 to Yale Law School! YLS is of course Justice Thomas’s alma mater. But wait! There’s more. The Thomas connection is no coincidence. Crow’s contribution was for a worthy cause, sure to generate heartburn among the authorities at YLS. Crow’s contribution was for a portrait of Justice Thomas
»
October 31, 2022 — John Hinderaker
I haven’t seen or read a transcript of today’s Supreme Court hearing. Scott or Steve may offer more informed commentary shortly. But, based on news accounts, the day seems to have gone well for opponents of race discrimination in higher education. The pro-discrimination Washington Post is inconsolable: Conservative justices on Monday seemed open to ending decades of Supreme Court precedent allowing race-conscious admission decisions at colleges and universities, repeatedly expressing
»
June 30, 2022 — Scott Johnson
The great Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas has set off the lunatic left that powers the throbbing heart of the Democratic Party and its media adjunct. He has set the left off ever since his nomination to the Court by President Bush in 1991. I’m so old I recall Joe Biden’s idiotic performance as chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee in the confirmation hearing (and Biden’s descent from 1991 has
»
June 27, 2022 — John Hinderaker
We are coming off one of the greatest weeks in the history of the U.S. Supreme Court. And yet, a largely unreported dissent by Justice Clarence Thomas may be the harbinger of something important that is still to come. The case is Coral Ridge Ministries v. Southern Poverty Law Center, and the opinion by Justice Thomas, dissenting from a denial of a writ of certiorari, is the kind of thing
»
February 2, 2020 — Scott Johnson
Last night we saw the fantastic documentary Created Equal: Clarence Thomas in His Own Words in theater 18 of one of our local suburban AMC multiplexes. It might have been a seat or two short of a sell-out, but we had to settle for two seats in the first row. It was packed. The documentary’s official site is here. It relates: Although Clarence Thomas remains a controversial figure, loved by
»
March 4, 2019 — Paul Mirengoff
Was it scandalous for Justice Clarence Thomas to express his support for Neomi Rao’s nomination to Senators considering whether to vote for her confirmation as a federal appellate judge? Some claim it was. Elie Mystal says: I guess we already know how Thomas would rule on any Rao opinions appealed to him. That’s… not how this is supposed to work. Nonsense. A positive report by a Supreme Court Justice about
»
September 22, 2018 — John Hinderaker
The Democrats’ current attack on Judge Brett Kavanaugh obviously recalls their failed assault on Clarence Thomas, who has gone on to a distinguished career as an intellectual leader of the Supreme Court. Memories fade, and I had forgotten some of what Hans Bader details at Liberty Unyielding. I remember this much: the Thomas hearing was televised and gripped the nation. At the time, most Americans concluded that Anita Hill, who
»
August 4, 2018 — Steven Hayward
I’m gaining weight and running out of popcorn watching the left freak out about the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court to replace Justice Anthony Kennedy. But beyond just the theatrics of the left’s primal screams and desperation tactics it is delightful to see the left begin to reckon with something more fundamental going on, which in one sentence I’ll assert is the growing vindication of the constitutional
»
December 8, 2017 — Paul Mirengoff
Earlier this week, I responded to an op-ed in which Jay Kaganoff said conservatives should call on Justice Clarence Thomas to resign. I distinguished the Thomas-Anita Hill controversy from recent cases of sex harassment charges against public figures in three ways. First, Thomas categorically denied Hill’s allegations. Second, no one other than Hill testified that Thomas engaged in inappropriate behavior. Third, Hill never accused Thomas of sexual touching or of
»
December 6, 2017 — Paul Mirengoff
Jay Kaganoff, writing in the Washington Post says: “Fellow conservatives, it’s time to call on Clarence Thomas to resign.” No it isn’t. The controversy over Anita Hill’s allegations against Justice Thomas has nothing material in common with the cases of Al Franken, John Conyers, or Roy Moore. First, Thomas categorically denied Hill’s allegations. Franken admits to some of the allegations against him. Moore admitted, at least initially, that he dated
»
