Remarks—Justice Thomas, the Person
I believe that far too little is known of Clarence Thomas as a person, even after his own excellent recent autobiography, and I hope that I can add something to your understanding in the remarks that I am about to offer. In deference to the academic setting, I will in the end attempt to make some connection between the Clarence Thomas that I know, respect, and love like a brother and the Justice Thomas whom you study and whose work you read. Both are too little known and too often have been disparaged by people who have known little or nothing.
I first came to know Clarence Thomas in March of 1990, after President George H.W. Bush appointed him to the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, filling the seat of civil rights legend Spottswood Robinson and displacing me as the most junior judge. I must say that I was most pleased to give up the duties of reviewing the minutes of the judicial meetings and gain the prospect of not being the first vote on every case. I was otherwise fairly neutral to the appointment of Clarence Thomas, as I had never met him and knew very little about him. I knew that he was Chairman of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and, by all reports, had done a fine job in that capacity. While that was not literally judicial experience, he was a distinguished graduate of Yale Law School, and—as head of an administrative agency—he had a valuable experience base for a court that spends much of its time reviewing the final decisions of such agencies. I looked forward to meeting him. But that meeting was delayed.
