Difference between revisions of "Clarence Thomas"
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Thomas was confirmed by the Senate with a vote of 52-48, which was at the time the narrowest confirmation of a Supreme Court nominee in history. | Thomas was confirmed by the Senate with a vote of 52-48, which was at the time the narrowest confirmation of a Supreme Court nominee in history. | ||
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| + | Judge Thomas has come to be the most silent of the Supreme Court judges. He rarely asks any questions and rarely involves himself in any discussions in view of the litigants. | ||
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| + | Amongst Supreme Court watchers, Judge Thomas is seen as a consistent supporter of Judge Scalia. It is rare to see the two men disagree on any decision. | ||
==References== | ==References== | ||
Revision as of 00:33, June 16, 2007
The Honorable Clarence Thomas is an Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court.
Justice Thomas is highly respected for adhering to an interpretation of the U.S. Constitution based on its original text, meaning and understanding, which has included limiting federal powers. His judicial doctrine finds no basis in the U.S. Constitution for abortion, Roe v. Wade, homosexual rights, federal interference with state sovereignty, the Dormant Commerce Clause and constitutional limits on punitive damages. He has utilized and trained more conservative law clerks than any other Justice. He has an unblemished record of service on the Court since 1991 and has never had to recuse himself from a case due to activity off the bench or investments. He is often compared to Justice Antonin Scalia.
Early life
He was born in Savannah, Georgia on June 23, 1948.
Appointment to the United States Supreme Court
In 1991, upon the death of Justice Thurgood Marshall, President George H.W. Bush nominated Clarence Thomas to fill the newly vacant seat. Supporters of abortion desperately opposed his nomination.
Radical leftists attempted to block Thomas's nomination to the High Court through a persistent series of public guilt by association smears. Chip Berlet of Political Research Associates noted that Thomas was on the editorial board of the Lincoln Review, a quarterly black conservative publication of the Lincoln Institute. Berlet issued a rather dubius ad hominem attack which claimed "it is a far right group that has worked in coalition with… fascist and anti-Semitic groups," and goes on to “link” Lincoln Institute head J. A. Baker with the Indiana Ku Klux Klan by virtue that Baker is on the board of the Council for National Policy and another board member is supposedly a former Klan member. [1]
In a flagrant violation of the rules of the Senate [2], staff members [3] for a sitting Democratic member of the Judiciary Committee leaked a routine confidential FBI background report to Nina Totenberg of National Public Radio (NPR) [4] which contained a vicious defamatory smear intended to mar Thomas for life. The accusation was known to be false, and was concocted to publicly intimidate an African-American Republican from accepting an appointment to the nations High Court, and derail his nomination. None of the allegations could be substantiated. The deliberate falsehoods did however persuade former Ku Klux Klan Democratic Senator Robert Byrd to change his vote from "yes" for confirmation to "no".
Thomas was confirmed by the Senate with a vote of 52-48, which was at the time the narrowest confirmation of a Supreme Court nominee in history.
Judge Thomas has come to be the most silent of the Supreme Court judges. He rarely asks any questions and rarely involves himself in any discussions in view of the litigants.
Amongst Supreme Court watchers, Judge Thomas is seen as a consistent supporter of Judge Scalia. It is rare to see the two men disagree on any decision.
References
- ↑ A Few Facts About Clarence Thomas, Chip Berlet, Political Research Associates, Cambridge MA, 1997.
- ↑ Congressional Record -Senate, 102nd Congress, October 7, 1991, Vol 137, Part 18, p. 25706.
- ↑ The Real Anita Hill, David Brock, Harper Collins, 1993.
- ↑ The Clarence Thomas Hearings, by William Boot, Columbia Journalism Review, January/February 1992.