Since October 2004, according to Supreme Court transcripts, Clarence Thomas has spoken 281 words. At the rate of about a hundred a year, no one would call him garrulous.
In a new book, many people call Justice Thomas many other things: ultra-conservative, unqualified, combative, insensitive, self-pitying, reclusive, a traitor to his race. But the truth is more complicated than that.
Written by two black Washington Post reporters, “Supreme Discomfort: The Divided Soul of Clarence Thomas” attempts to solve the mystery of a man who became the focus of racial and political rage in America.
When Thomas was nominated to succeed Thurgood Marshall in 1991, it seemed like a bad joke that the first President Bush claimed to have chosen him without regard to race. Replacing the distinguished first African American on the Court with a political hack who had been on any bench for only a year enraged Democrats, black leaders and feminists who believed he was anti-abortion.
Yet televised confirmation hearings went well until opponents brought in Anita Hill, who had worked for Thomas and testified that he had sexually harassed her with remarks about pubic hair in his Coca Cola and a porn star named Long Dong Silver.
The ensuing soap opera of character assassination by both sides was a national disgrace, which ended only after Thomas, who had been deferential until then, expressed his anger over what he called a “high tech lynching.”
Clarence Thomas has been on the high court for a decade and a half now, apparently still scarred by that experience, doing and saying very little, following Antonin Scalia’s ultra-conservative lead. Those who opposed him are still bitter about his appointment.
A magazine for black readers published two covers of Thomas, once wearing an Aunt Jemima headscarf and another as a lawn jockey. The Justice himself has seldom appeared in public, making an exception to officiate at Rush Limbaugh’s wedding.
Of all the players in this racial drama, George Herbert Walker Bush bears the most blame. Thomas was only being himself, and his detractors were justified in their reasons for opposing him, if not always in their methods.
But it was Bush’s cynicism in naming him that has led to the bitter polarization of the Supreme Court nomination process, which culminated in the depths of his son’s choice of Harriet Meirs and consideration of Alberto Gonzales for appointment.
Justice Thomas’ silence is a symbol for the loud and clear cacaphony that both Bushes have brought to American democracy.
Monday, May 21, 2007
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
Bush-43 also gave us David Souter, so maybe he's not as damnably culpable as you make out.
There are conservatives who think that Thomas is his own man, often leading rather than following Scalia. And others who would find this latest book to be cut of the same cloth of a long line of predecessors.
I just read this on a Catholic Legal Theory website, Mirror of Justice, "Her approach to the law reflects the caprice of the positivist mind rather than the transcendent and objective moral order essential to Catholic legal theory."
I thought to myself, could that be 'the something' that explains the discontinuity between Thomas' life and his ... er, easily juxtaposed "legal world view"?
runescape money runescape gold runescape gold runescape money buy runescape gold buy runescape money runescape money runescape gold wow power leveling wow powerleveling Warcraft Power Leveling Warcraft PowerLeveling buy runescape gold buy runescape money runescape items runescape accounts runescape gp dofus kamas buy dofus kamas Guild Wars Gold buy Guild Wars Gold lotro gold buy lotro gold lotro gold buy lotro gold lotro gold buy lotro gold runescape money runescape power leveling runescape money runescape gold dofus kamas cheap runescape money cheap runescape gold Hellgate Palladium Hellgate London Palladium Hellgate money Tabula Rasa gold tabula rasa money Tabula Rasa Credit Tabula Rasa Credits Hellgate gold Hellgate London gold wow power leveling wow powerleveling Warcraft PowerLeveling Warcraft Power Leveling World of Warcraft PowerLeveling World of Warcraft Power Leveling runescape power leveling runescape powerleveling eve isk eve online isk eve isk eve online isk tibia gold Fiesta Silver Fiesta Gold SilkRoad Gold buy SilkRoad Gold runescape accounts buy runescape accounts rs2 accounts buy rs2 accounts runescape power leveling rs2 power leveling FFXI Gil buy FFXI Gil gaia gold buy gaia gold buy dofus kamas buy dofus kamas dofus kamas runescape accounts buy runescape accounts rs2 accounts buy rs2 accounts runescape power leveling rs2 power leveling rs2 gold buy rs2 gold runescape
tibia money tibia gold tibia item runescape money runescape gold runescape power leveling tibia gold runescape money runescape gold runescape accounts runescape gp runescape power leveling dofus kamas buy runescape gold buy runescape money runescape items tibia item runescape accounts runescape gp wow power leveling wow powerleveling Warcraft PowerLeveling tibia money tibia gold runescape powerleveling buy dofus kamas Warcraft Power Leveling World of Warcraft PowerLeveling World of Warcraft Power Leveling Hellgate money Hellgate gold Guild Wars Gold buy Guild Wars Gold lotro gold buy lotro gold Hellgate Palladium Hellgate London Palladium Hellgate London gold runescape money runescape gold eve isk eve online isk Fiesta Silver Fiesta Gold SilkRoad Gold buy SilkRoad Gold Scions of Fate Gold SOF Gold Age Of Conan Gold AOC Gold lotro gold buy lotro gold buy runescape gold buy runescape money runescape items ArchLord gold buy ArchLord gold DDO Plat tibia money tibia gold tibia item Dungeons and Dragons Online Plat
Post a Comment