61-524: Defunct Newspapers Journals TV channels Websites Other Economics Gun rights Identity politics Nativist Religion Watchdog groups Youth/student groups Miscellaneous Other Clarence Thomas (born June 23, 1948) is an American lawyer and jurist who has served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States since 1991. He
122-406: A liberal arts education introduced him to the writings of black intellectuals such as Richard Wright , whose literary works Thomas sympathized with. His admiration of Malcolm X led him to read The Autobiography of Malcolm X to the point of wearing down the pages of his copy. Thomas graduated on June 4, 1971, with a Bachelor of Arts , cum laude , ranked ninth in his class. He applied to and
183-505: A chief counsel to Biden, to inform him of her allegations. She recalled that Thomas told Hill in an elevator at the EEOC that he would ruin her career if she spoke about his behavior. When Grant told Hill and Hoerchner that the FBI would be involved, they were reluctant to be investigated. Hill declined to speak with the FBI, as she feared it would misconstrue her words, so instead arranged to deliver
244-466: A corporate lawyer in Atlanta, Georgia . He saw his experience in law school as disappointing, as law firms assumed he was accepted because of affirmative action . According to Thomas, the law firms also "asked pointed questions, unsubtly suggesting that they doubted I was as smart as my grades indicated". In his 2007 memoir, he wrote: "I peeled a fifteen-cent sticker off a package of cigars and stuck it on
305-443: A detraction from socioeconomic issues. During Thomas's tenure, he was credited with improving the efficiency of the EEOC. Settlement award amounts to victims of discrimination tripled, while the number of suits filed decreased. The EEOC's lack of the use of goals and timetables drew criticism from civil rights advocates, who lobbied representatives to review the EEOC's practices; Thomas testified before Congress more than 50 times. Near
366-609: A fellow student say, "Good. I hope the son of a bitch dies" and "[t]hat's what they should do to all the niggers ". The display of racism moved Thomas to leave the seminary. He thought the church did not do enough to combat racism and resolved to abandon the priesthood. He left at the end of the semester. At a nun's suggestion, Thomas enrolled at the College of the Holy Cross , an elite Catholic college in Massachusetts , as
427-554: A focus of the hearings. Thomas said he regarded natural law as a "philosophical background" to the Constitution. Ninety witnesses testified in favor of or against Thomas. A motion on September 27, 1991, to give the nomination a favorable recommendation failed 7–7, and the Judiciary Committee voted 13–1 to send it to the full Senate without recommendation. At the conclusion of the committee's confirmation hearings,
488-413: A justice dies, retires, resigns, or is impeached and convicted . Each Supreme Court justice has a single vote in deciding the cases argued before it, and the chief justice's vote counts no more than that of any other justice; however, the chief justice leads the discussion of the case among the justices. Furthermore, the chief justice—when in the majority—decides who writes the court's opinion; otherwise,
549-762: A liberal coalition—including the Alliance for Justice and the National Organization for Women (NOW)—emerged to oppose his candidacy. On October 30, 1989, President George H. W. Bush nominated Thomas to the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to fill the seat vacated by Robert Bork . Thomas gained the support of other African American officials, including former transportation secretary William Coleman , and said that when meeting white Democratic staffers in
610-421: A set of chambers in the Supreme Court building, and employ law clerks. The names of retired associate justices continue to appear alongside those of the active justices in the bound volumes of Supreme Court decisions. Federal statute ( 28 U.S.C. § 294 ) provides that retired Supreme Court justices may serve—if designated and assigned by the chief justice—on panels of the U.S. courts of appeals, or on
671-568: A sophomore transfer student on a full academic scholarship. He was one of the college's first black students, being one of twenty recruited by President John E. Brooks in 1968 in a group that also included the future attorney Ted Wells , the running back Eddie Jenkins Jr. , and the novelist Edward P. Jones . In the fall of that year, Thomas and other black students founded the college's Black Student Union (BSU), which became an important part of their campus identity. Without financial support from his grandfather, he defrayed his expenses by working as
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#1732780910452732-494: A student of the property law scholar Quintin Johnstone , who became his favorite professor. Johnstone remembered Thomas as having "performed very well". Guido Calabresi , the dean of Yale Law School , described Thomas and fellow student Hillary Clinton as "both excellent students [who] had the same kind of reputation". Thomas obtained his Juris Doctor on May 20, 1974. After graduation, he sought to enter private practice as
793-615: A subordinate at the Department of Education and the EEOC. The Senate confirmed Thomas by a vote of 52–48, the narrowest margin in a century. Since the death of Antonin Scalia , Thomas has been the Court's foremost originalist , stressing the original meaning in interpreting the U.S. Constitution . In contrast to Scalia—who had been the only other consistent originalist—he pursues a more classically liberal variety of originalism. Thomas
854-419: A waiter and dishwasher in the college's dining hall. Thomas later recalled, "I was 19. My only hope was Holy Cross College". Professors at Holy Cross remembered Thomas as a determined, diligent student. He kept to a strict routine of studying alone and stayed back during holidays to continue working. Thomas C. Lawler, an English professor at Holy Cross, recalled him as having "never talked very much in class. He
915-415: A written statement. The statement described how Thomas pressured her to date him, and included descriptions of him speaking about sexual interests involving pornographic films. Hill also alleged that Thomas spoke of sex at work despite her being uncomfortable with the subject, adding, "I sensed that my discomfort with his discussions only urged him on, as though my reaction of feeling ill at ease and vulnerable
976-500: Is also tasked with carrying out the chief justice's duties when he is unable to, or if that office is vacant. There are currently eight associate justices on the Supreme Court. The justices, ordered by seniority, are: An associate justice who leaves the Supreme Court after attaining the age and meeting the service requirements prescribed by federal statute ( 28 U.S.C. § 371 ) may retire rather than resign. After retirement, they keep their title, and by custom may also keep
1037-411: Is always considered to be the most senior justice. If two justices are commissioned on the same day, the elder is designated the senior justice of the two. Currently, the senior associate justice is Clarence Thomas . By tradition, when the justices are in conference deliberating the outcome of cases before the Supreme Court, the justices state their views in order of seniority. The senior associate justice
1098-616: Is eight, as set by the Judiciary Act of 1869 . Article II, Section 2, Clause 2 of the Constitution of the United States grants plenary power to the president to nominate, and with the advice and consent (confirmation) of the Senate , appoint justices to the Supreme Court. Article III, Section 1 of the Constitution effectively grants life tenure to associate justices, and all other federal judges , which ends only when
1159-560: The Carnegie Library , the only library for Blacks in Savannah before libraries were desegregated in 1961. When Thomas was ten years old, Anderson began putting his grandsons to work during the summers, helping him build a house on a plot of farmland he owned, building fences, and doing farm work. He believed in hard work and self-reliance, never showed his grandsons affection, beat them frequently according to Leola, and impressed
1220-522: The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) the next year. President George H. W. Bush nominated Thomas to the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in 1990. He served in that role for 19 months before filling Marshall's seat on the Supreme Court. Thomas's confirmation hearings were bitter and intensely fought, centering on an accusation that he had sexually harassed Anita Hill ,
1281-566: The Office for Civil Rights (OCR) on May 1, 1981. The Senate received the nomination on May 28, 1981, and Thomas was quickly confirmed before the Senate Labor and Human Resources Committee on June 19, succeeding Cynthia Brown at the age of 32. He held the position for a brief period before James offered him a new position as chairman of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), a promotion that Thomas believed, as with his position in
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#17327809104521342-755: The United States Senate , he was "struck by how easy it had become for sanctimonious whites to accuse a black man of not caring about civil rights". In February 1990, the Senate Judiciary Committee recommended Thomas by a vote of 12 to 1. On March 6, 1990, the Senate confirmed him to the Court of Appeals by a vote of 98 to 2. He developed cordial relationships during his 19 months on the federal court, including with Judge Ruth Bader Ginsburg . During his judgeship, Thomas authored 19 opinions. When Justice William Brennan retired from
1403-504: The "best qualified at this time". Thornburgh cautioned Bush that replacing Marshall with any candidate who was not perceived to share Marshall's views would make confirmation difficult. Liberal interest groups sought to challenge Thomas's nomination by paralleling the same strategy used against Robert Bork's confirmation. Abortion-rights groups, including the National Abortion Rights Action League and
1464-476: The 1880s. He was the second of three children of M.C. Thomas, a farm worker, and Leola Williams. Williams had been born out of wedlock; after her mother's death, she was sent from Liberty County, Georgia , to live with an aunt in Pin Point. The family were descendants of enslaved people and spoke Gullah as a first language . Thomas's earliest known ancestors were slaves named Sandy and Peggy, who were born in
1525-550: The EEOC and upgraded its record-keeping under an uncompromising leadership that eschewed racial quotas. Concerned by the EEOC's limited statutory authority, Thomas sought to impose criminal penalties for employers who practiced employment discrimination , moving to shift funding towards agency investigators. Though he had been critical of affirmative action , Thomas also opposed the Reagan Administration's agenda to remove affirmative action policies, believing it to be
1586-676: The NOW, were concerned that Thomas would be among those to overrule Roe v. Wade . Republican officials in turn emphasized his personal history and gathered support from African American interest groups, including the NAACP . Other civil rights organizations, such as the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and the National Urban League , were convinced not to oppose Thomas, believing that he
1647-577: The OCR, was because of his race. After James consulted the President, Thomas hesitantly took up the chair with Reagan's approval. Thomas chaired the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) from 1982 to 1990. As chairman, he was tasked with enforcing the Civil Rights Act of 1964 in an agency that had been mutually resented by both Democrats and Republicans. He announced a reorganization of
1708-496: The Senate Judiciary Committee. Thomas testified for 25 hours, the second-longest of any Supreme Court nominee. He was reticent when answering senators' questions, recalling what had happened to Robert Bork when Bork expounded on his judicial philosophy during his confirmation hearings four years earlier. As many of his earlier writings frequently referenced natural law , his views on the legal theory became
1769-407: The Senate was debating whether to give final approval to Thomas's nomination. An FBI interview with Anita Hill , a former colleague of Thomas at the EEOC, was soon leaked to the press and allegations of sexual harassment followed. As a result, on October 8, the final vote was postponed, and the confirmation hearings were reopened. It was only the third time in the Senate's history that such an action
1830-608: The Supreme Court in July 1990, Thomas was Bush's favorite among the five candidates on his shortlist for the position. However, Bush's advisors, including Attorney General Dick Thornburgh , considered Thomas inexperienced, and he instead nominated David Souter of the First Circuit Court of Appeals . A year later, Justice Thurgood Marshall announced his retirement on June 27, 1991, and Bush nominated Thomas to replace him. Bush announced his selection on July 1, calling Thomas
1891-431: The U.S. district courts. Retired justices are not, however, authorized to take part in the consideration or decision of any cases before the Supreme Court (unlike other retired federal judges who may be permitted to do so in their former courts); neither are they known or designated as a "senior judge". When, after his retirement, William O. Douglas attempted to take a more active role than was customary, maintaining that it
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1952-426: The attention of officials in the newly elected Reagan Administration as a black conservative . Pendleton James, Reagan's personnel director, offered Thomas the position of assistant secretary for civil rights at the U.S. Department of Education . Initially reluctant, Thomas agreed after Danforth and others pressed him to take the post. President Ronald Reagan nominated Thomas as assistant secretary of education for
2013-505: The children, and a judge granted the request in March 1951. After the divorce, M.C. moved to Savannah and later Pennsylvania, visiting his children only once. Leola went to work as a maid in Savannah during the week and returned to Pin Point on the weekends. Custody of the children was awarded to Leola's aunt. When her aunt's house burned down in 1955, Leola took her children to live with her in
2074-580: The end of his final term, the EEOC came under congressional scrutiny for the mishandling of age-discrimination cases. In early 1989, President George H. W. Bush expressed interest in nominating Thomas to a federal judgeship. Thomas, now at age 41, initially rejected the position, believing himself unready to make a lifetime commitment to being a judge. White House Counsel C. Boyden Gray and White House Chief of Staff John H. Sununu advocated for his nomination, and Judge Laurence Silberman advised Thomas to accept an appointment. Anticipating Thomas's nomination,
2135-497: The family, he was raised by his grandfather in a poor Gullah community near Savannah, Georgia . Growing up as a devout Catholic, Thomas originally intended to be a priest in the Catholic Church , but he was frustrated by what he viewed as the church's insufficient attempts to combat racism. He abandoned his aspiration of becoming a clergyman and graduated from the College of the Holy Cross and Yale Law School , where he
2196-409: The first time. Despite having little formal education, Anderson had built a successful business delivering coal, oil, and ice. When racial unrest led to widespread protest and marches in Savannah from 1960 to 1963, Anderson used his wealth to bail out demonstrators and took his grandchildren to meetings promoted by the NAACP . Thomas has described his grandfather as the person who has influenced his life
2257-426: The frame of my law degree to remind myself of the mistake I'd made by going to Yale. I never did change my mind about its value." Hill, Jones, and Farrington, the Savannah law firm where Thomas had interned the previous summer, offered him a job upon graduation, but he declined. With no job offers from major law firms, Thomas took a position as an associate with Missouri attorney general John Danforth , who offered him
2318-509: The home), as well as his dissent in Gonzales v. Raich (arguing that the U.S. Congress may not criminalize the private cultivation of medical cannabis ). He is widely considered to be the Court's most conservative member . Thomas was born on June 23, 1948, in his parents' wooden shack in Pin Point, Georgia . Pin Point was a small community near Savannah founded by freedmen in
2379-651: The importance of a good education on them. Anderson taught Thomas that "all of our rights as human beings came from God, not man", and that racial segregation was a violation of divine law . During his freshman year from 1967 to 1968, Thomas attended Conception Seminary College , a Benedictine seminary in Missouri , with the intent to become a priest; no one in Thomas's family had attended college before. After Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassination , he overheard
2440-518: The late 18th century and owned by wealthy planter Josiah Wilson of Liberty County. Thomas's older sister, Emma, was born in 1946, and his younger brother, Myers, in 1949. Upon becoming pregnant with Thomas's older sister, Leola was expelled from her Baptist church and dropped out of high school after the 10th grade; her father ordered her to marry M.C. in January 1947. After three years of marriage, M.C. sued for divorce, claiming that Leola neglected
2501-557: The most. Anderson converted to Catholicism and sent Thomas to be educated at a series of Catholic schools. Thomas attended the predominantly black St. Pius X High School in Chatham County for two years before transferring to St. John Vianney's Minor Seminary on the Isle of Hope , where he was the segregated boarding school 's first black student. Though he experienced hazing , he performed well academically. He spent many hours at
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2562-531: The organization would rate Thomas more poorly than it thought he deserved, so pressured the ABA for at least the mid-level qualified rating while simultaneously discrediting it as partisan. Opponents of Thomas's nomination saw the assessment as indicating that he was unfit for the Court. The ABA gave Thomas its highest rankings in integrity and judicial temperament and a middle-grade in professional competence. On September 10, 1991, formal confirmation hearings began before
2623-554: The president, who was sponsoring Thomas. Biden used the FBI instead of the committee's investigators to avoid the appearance of partisanship. Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States An associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States is a justice of the Supreme Court of the United States , other than the chief justice of the United States . The number of associate justices
2684-468: The prospect of practicing what he liked. Thomas moved to Saint Louis to study for the Missouri bar , and was admitted on September 13, 1974. He remained financially destitute even after leaving Yale, trying unsuccessfully on one occasion to make money by selling his blood at a blood bank , and hoped that by working for Danforth he might later acquire a job in private practice. From 1974 to 1977, Thomas
2745-402: The room she rented in a tenement with an outdoor toilet in Savannah, leaving her daughter with the aunt in Pin Point. She asked her father, Myers Anderson, for help. He initially refused but agreed after his wife threatened to throw him out. Thomas and his brother went to live with Anderson, his maternal grandfather, in 1955 and experienced amenities such as indoor plumbing and regular meals for
2806-399: The same violation, he suggested a walkout in protest. The BSU adopted his idea, and Thomas, along with sixty other black students, departed campus. Some of the priests negotiated with the protesting black students to reenter the school. When administrators granted amnesty to all protesters, Thomas returned to the college, later also to attend anti-war marches . In April 1970, he participated in
2867-401: The senior justice in the majority assigns the writing of a decision. The chief justice also has certain administrative responsibilities that the other justices do not and is paid slightly more ($ 298,500 per year as of 2023, compared to $ 285,400 per year for an associate justice). Associate justices have seniority in order of the date their respective commissions bear, although the chief justice
2928-538: The staff of Senator Joe Biden , the chair of the committee, that her allegations be made anonymously if she chose to testify and that Thomas not be informed of them, which Biden declined. Hill then notified Democratic staffers the day after the hearings had ended that she wished to make her allegations known to the committee. Hill's allegations were corroborated by Susan Hoerchner, a judge in California, who also wished to remain anonymous. Hoerchner called Harriet Grant,
2989-603: The violent 1970 Harvard Square riots . He has credited his protests for his turn toward conservatism and subsequent disillusionment with leftist movements. Having struggled with English as a native speaker of Gullah , Thomas chose to major in English literature . He became a member of Alpha Sigma Nu , the Jesuit honor society , and the Purple Key Society, of which he was the only black member. The college's focus on
3050-463: Was Bush's last black nominee. On July 31, 1991, the board of directors of the NAACP voted against endorsing Thomas, announcing their opposition to his confirmation the same day. The American Bar Association (ABA) appraised Thomas as "qualified" for the Supreme Court. The result came in contrast to the "well qualified" rating some nominees had received previously. The Bush Administration anticipated that
3111-638: Was accepted by Yale Law School , Harvard Law School , and the University of Pennsylvania Law School . That same year, Thomas matriculated at Yale Law School as one of twelve black students. Yale offered him the best financial aid package, and he was attracted to the civil rights activism of some of its faculty members. Finding it difficult to keep up with the school's expectations, he struggled to connect with other students who came from upper-class backgrounds. He enrolled in Yale's most difficult courses and became
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#17327809104523172-446: Was an assistant attorney general of Missouri—the only African-American member of Danforth's staff. He worked first in the office's criminal appeals division and later in the revenue and taxation division. Thomas conducted lawsuits independently, gaining a reputation as a fair but controversial prosecutor. Years later, after he joined the Supreme Court, Thomas recalled his position in Missouri as "the best job I've ever had". When Danforth
3233-746: Was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1976, Thomas left to become an attorney in Monsanto 's legal department in Saint Louis. He found the job unsatisfying, so left to rejoin Danforth in Washington, D.C. , as a legislative assistant. From 1979 to 1981, he handled energy issues for the Senate Commerce Committee . Thomas, who had switched his party affiliation from Democratic to Republican while working for Danforth in Missouri, soon drew
3294-400: Was going to get as much as he could and get as far, ultimately, as he could". Thomas became a vocal student activist as an undergraduate. He became acquainted with black separatism , the black Muslim Movement , the black power movement , and displayed a poster of Malcolm X in his dormitory room. When some black students were disproportionately punished in comparison with white students for
3355-580: Was his prerogative to do so because of his senior status, he was rebuffed by Chief Justice Warren Burger and admonished by the whole Court. There are currently three living retired associate justices: David Souter , retired June 29, 2009; Anthony Kennedy , retired July 31, 2018; and Stephen Breyer , retired June 30, 2022. Souter has served on panels of the First Circuit Courts of Appeals following his retirement; Kennedy and Breyer have not performed any judicial duties since retiring. Since
3416-436: Was influenced by a number of conservative authors, especially Thomas Sowell . Upon graduating, he was appointed as an assistant attorney general in Missouri and later entered private practice there. He became a legislative assistant to U.S. Senator John Danforth in 1979, and was made Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights at the U.S. Department of Education in 1981. President Ronald Reagan appointed Thomas as Chairman of
3477-556: Was known for his silence during most oral arguments, though has since begun asking more questions to counsel. He is notable for his majority opinions in Good News Club v. Milford Central School (determining the freedom of religious speech in relation to the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution ) and New York State Rifle & Pistol Association, Inc. v. Bruen (affirming the individual right to bear arms outside
3538-452: Was nominated by the U.S. president George H. W. Bush in 1990 to succeed Thurgood Marshall . After Marshall, Thomas is the second African American to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court and has been its longest-serving member since Anthony Kennedy 's retirement in 2018. Since Stephen Breyer 's retirement in 2022, he is also the Court's oldest member. Thomas was born in Pin Point in the U.S. state of Georgia . After his father abandoned
3599-489: Was taken and the first since 1925, when Justice Harlan F. Stone 's nomination was recommitted to the Judiciary Committee. Hill was raised in Oklahoma and, like Thomas, graduated from Yale Law School. She told James Brudney, a fellow Yale alumnus, about alleged sexual advances Thomas had made, telling him that she also did not wish to testify or make the allegations public to the Senate Judiciary Committee. Hill requested to
3660-442: Was the kind of person you really might not notice". By contrast, he was outspoken at BSU meetings, distinguishing himself as a contrarian who often feuded with Ted Wells. The future running back Ed Jenkins, a BSU member, said Thomas "could turn on a dime and reduce you to intellectual rubble". Edward P. Jones, who lived across from Thomas as a sophomore, reflected that "there was a fierce determination I sensed from him [Thomas], that he
3721-491: Was what he wanted". The FBI report of its investigation was not made public. The White House announced that the FBI had found the allegations "without foundation". Congressional officials who had seen the report told the New York Times that "the bureau could not draw any conclusion because of the 'he said, she said' nature of the subject". The use of the FBI was contentious in the Judiciary Committee because it answers to
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