Thomas, Clarence (1948-)

Early Years

Had someone suggested during his childhood that Clarence Thomas would one day sit on the U.S. Supreme Court, the idea would have seemed utterly absurd. Thomas was born in the segregated South in 1948, in a tiny, poor community of South Georgia known as Pin Point. His father deserted the family when Thomas was a small boy. When he was 6 years old, his family's house burned down, and his mother sent him to live in more comfortable circumstances with his grandfather in Savannah. Thomas attended Catholic schools and helped his grandfather with his business.

After high school, Thomas attended the Immaculate Conception Seminary in Missouri. After 2 years in seminary, he transferred to Holy Cross College, a small Catholic college in Massachusetts. During these tumultuous times, when American society was divided by the civil rights movement and the war in Vietnam, Thomas absorbed some of the ambient radicalism. He also grew disillusioned with Catholicism. After graduating cum laude from Holy Cross College, Thomas attended Yale Law School. He graduated from Yale in 1974.

Thomas began his legal career as an assistant attorney general for the State of Missouri. Three years later, Thomas joined the legal department of the Monsanto Corporation. He returned to government service in 1979, working for 2 years as a legislative assistant to Missouri Senator John C. Danforth. From there, Thomas rose rapidly through the ranks of the federal government. Thomas obtained an appointment as an assistant secretary for civil rights in the United States Department of Education. From 1982 to 1990, Thomas served as the chairman of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

On the Bench

In 1990, President George H. W. Bush nominated Thomas to a federal appellate judgeship for the District of Columbia Circuit. One year later, President Bush nominated him to the U.S. Supreme Court, to fill the seat vacated by Justice Thurgood Marshall. At the time, Thomas was only 43 years old. His confirmation hearings were among the most bitter and hotly contested of any in history. A focal point of controversy involved the allegations from a former coworker, Anita Hill, that Thomas had sexually harassed her. Thomas vehemently denied these allegations and was narrowly confirmed in the Senate by a vote of 52 to 48.

Thomas returned to Roman Catholicism after his appointment to the Court. He married twice, the second time to Virginia Lamp, in 1987. He has one child from his first marriage.

Supreme Court Record

Justice Thomas has been a consistent vote on the Court's conservative wing. Thomas is often described as an originalist, someone who interprets the words of the Constitution as they were understood when it was originally drafted.

Another noteworthy feature of Justice Thomas's views is his skepticism of the doctrine of stare decisis, [Page 822]the practice of deferring to past decisions. In Justice Thomas's view, no matter how established a decision has become, if the decision is wrong, it must be corrected. In contrast, proponents of stare decisis take the view that stability in the law should be preserved, even if the decisions are flawed in some respect.

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