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Who is Clarence Thomas?
Conservative coward or Independent contrarian?
Thirty years ago, the U.S. Senate’s all White and male Judiciary Committee gave America Clarence Thomas a lifelong appointment on the Supreme Court. The committee, led by current President Joe Biden, back when he was a U.S. Senator from Delaware, likely had the power to stop Thomas from being confirmed for the Supreme Court, but they blinked, and so here we are.
In two crucial U.S. Supreme Court cases this past month, we’ve seen why this moment will be remembered as a missed opportunity, a mistake. Thomas was on the wrong side of two crucial Supreme Court opinions this past month, but it could have quickly gone the other way. He has repeatedly rendered extreme opinions during his time in office, many of which feel more like revenge than thoughtful jurisprudence.
Let's take a quick look at two cases in which he was on the wrong side and not in the majority to make the point:
Voting Rights (Allen v. Milligan)
The U.S. Supreme Court upheld Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act 1965 this past month. Justice Roberts and Justice Amy Coney Barrett both voted in favor of upholding the law and tossed Alabama’s discriminatory drawing of the state’s voting districts. This provided the narrow 5–4 victory. (The vote…
