The OLD Philosopher – John M. Miller
On October 15, Jill Abramson, a former executive editor of The New York Times, had an editorial in the Times entitled “Does the Supreme Court Belong to Justice Thomas Now?” She detailed positions the current most conservative justice has taken during his thirty years on the court. These thoughts spring forth from her thoughts.
When Clarence Thomas became a justice during the administration of George H. W. Bush, Mr. Thomas told his law clerks when he began his tenure, “I ain’t evolving.” By that statement he wanted them to know he would not be like Justices Blackmun and Suter, also Republicans appointed by Republican presidents. He would remain a rock-ribbed conservative as long as he served as a member of the nation’s highest judicial body. He most certainly has remained true to his word.
The views of Justice Thomas on hot-button issues such as abortion and gun rights are widely known. Upon the death of Antonin Scalia, he became the upholder of originalism and other uniquely unhelpful ultra-conservative legal notions. Now with three new justices appointed by President Trump, he is the de facto leader of the 6-3 majority of conservatives on the court.
There can be little doubt that Clarence Thomas was admitted to Yale Law School because of affirmative action. However, he denies that. Furthermore he strongly opposes affirmative action on what he considers to be constitutional grounds.
If Justice Thomas had graduated from the law school of the University of Georgia, his home state, or the University of South Carolina, the closest state to where he grew up, would he have become a member of the US Supreme Court? It is highly doubtful.
In his views toward women, might he be misogynistic, like many Southern black men, because of historic Southern black culture? Yet how much of his conservatism is an attempt to show the world that a well-educated Black man can be a principled conservative, unlike what he perhaps considers most Blacks to be --- knee-jerk, poorly educated liberals? What has Clarence Thomas been trying to prove throughout his extraordinary life? Might he need to have his “head shrunk” even more than the rest of us?
Assuming (and hoping) that Justice Breyer will announce his retirement from the Supreme Court sometime very soon, Justice Thomas could be the oldest member of the court for many years to come. We can take some comfort in his advanced age. Yet with a 6-3 majority, if he is the actual leader of the conservative justices, the nation will be in for a bumpy ride as long as he might dominate the court’s thinking. - October 15, 2021
John Miller is Pastor of The Chapel Without Walls on Hilton Head Island, SC. More of his writings may be viewed at www.chapelwithoutwalls.org.