Clarence Thomas: the Supreme Court Justice - Research Paper Example

Clarence Thomas Introduction Clarence Thomas is an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the U.S and is the second American of black origin to serve in the highest court of the U.S after Retired Justice Thurgood Marshall. Born on June 23, 1948 in Pin Point, Georgia he spent his early life in Savanna, Georgia and was educated Holy Cross College where he majored in English as well as being active in social causes such as campaigns for civil rights and the protest against the American War in Vietnam. He later proceeded to Yale Law School where he helped establish the Black student Union while at the same time developing a conservative approach to issues. After his legal training, Thomas moved back to the South in 1974 where he worked as the assistant to the Attorney General of Missouri Mr. John Danforth before later on taking up the job of being a lawyer to Monsanto, an agricultural firm. In 1981, he was appointed the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights at the United States Department of Education majorly due to his past in the civil rights movement and to balance the composition of this important part of the US government. He is now a conservative and controversial judge though initially he had wanted to pursue a religious life having had seminary education stints at the St. John Vianney Minor Seminary and Immaculate Conception Seminary in order to become a catholic priest or cleric. He however left the seminary and decided to fight for civil rights after he overheard a fellow student at the seminary make fun of the assassination of Martin Luther King Jnr. In the year 1982, President Ronald Reagan appointed Thomas as the Chairman of the EEOC, a position in which he held til the year 1990 when President George H.W Bush nominated him to serve as a Judge in the U.S Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. On July 1, 1991, after sixteen months as a judge of appeal, he was nominated to fill the position left vacant by Mr. Marshall who was almost similar with his views on civil rights at the Supreme Court. However, his nomination was opposed by critics who attacked him due to his views that were largely deemed conservative for the highest court of the land while others had the view that he had little experience as a judge of the superior courts. At the confirmation hearings, Thomas decided to remain quiet on a number of issues including rights on abortion and faced a difficult moment explaining himself out about suggestions that he had made unwelcome sexual comments on a colleague both at the Department of Education and at the EEOC. However, he was confirmed by the United States Senate through a vote of fifty-two votes for him against forty-eight who opposed him. Thomas’s views at the Supreme Court have been the interpretation of the United States constitution from the original meaning by following from a conservative point of view (Totenberg). He has argued that the powers of the federal government must be limited and the states empowered as well as having a strong executive branch within the federal government. Clarence Thomas’s Legal Career and the Supreme Court Thomas was admitted to the Missouri bar on the 13th day of September 1974 from where he practised as an assistant Attorney General of the State of Missouri under Attorney General Danforth whom he had met at the Yale Law School. At the AG’s office, he worked at the criminal appeals section before being assigned duties at the taxation and revenue division. After the election of Danforth to the United States senate, Thomas joined Monsanto as an attorney before moving to Washington to work with his former colleague Danforth where he worked as a legislative attorney attached to the Senate Commerce Committee. Later on Dansforth played a key role in the confirmation and appointment of Thomas as a judge of the Supreme Court. After a one year stint as Assistant Secretary of Education for the Office for Civil Rights in the U.S. Department of Education from 1981-1982, he became the Chairman of the United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). At the EEOC, he promoted self-reliance and put a halt to class action lawsuits instead preferring people to file cases in their individual capacities. In the year 1989, Thomas was nominated by President George H. W. Bush to sit in the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit despite his opposition or disinterest in the position of a judge of a court of law. He was confirmed by the Senate on March 6, 1990 and went ahead to develop serious but helpful relationships with the judges in this particular court. Supreme Court nomination and confirmation When Justice William Brennan stepped down as a Justice of the Supreme Court in July 1990, Thomas was shortlisted by President Bush amongst four other shortlisted candidates but was the frontrunner. However, on advice from other quarters, President Bush instead nominated Justice Souter of the First Circuit. He was nominated a year later on July 1, 1991 to sit at the Supreme Court to replace fellow African-American Justice Marshall who was retiring due to his conservative stance that was favorable to the ruling Republicans at that time. Though the American Bar Association rated him poorly based on his perceived judicial temperament, competence and integrity, he was still nominated for the position of a judge of the Supreme Court as proposed by the president. The president nominated him to replace Justice Marshall as he shared the same ideals on civil rights and the fact that his nomination would easily go through if his inclination represented the views held by Justice Marshall (Merida and Michael). However, civil rights movements and feminists who felt that his views were in contrast with the holding in Roe v Wade opposed the nomination of Thomas. The formal confirmation hearings commenced on September 10, 1991 where he reiterated just as he had done before that natural law was just a philosophical background to the supreme law of the land (Epstein). Anita Hill allegations When the confirmation hearings for Justice Clarence Thomas were about to end, a Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) interview allegedly carried out between Hill and FBI leaked. Ms Hill, an attorney had previously worked with Thomas at the US Department of Education and had also moved with him to the EEOC and as such she was called to testify before the Senate Committee conducting the confirmation hearings of Thomas (Campbell and Drew). Hill testified that Thomas had subjected her to sexual harassment through his comments while they were colleagues and that such behavior was not befitting of a candidate of the Supreme Court of the United States of America (Pollitt 161). Thomas however denied the allegations stating that he was being vilified because he was an African-American and that the allegations were mere fabrications of Professor Hill. Although Hill was the only person to have testified at the confirmation hearings, Angela Wright who also worked with Thomas at the EEOC before she was fired wrote a memorandum to the committee alleging that Thomas had asked her out and made suggestive statements bordering on the female body. To her, this did not amount to sexual harassment but some women would have taken it to be sexual harassment, while another colleague Sukari Hardnett wrote to the committee stating that attractive black females would face unwarranted advances though not directly from Thomas. However, other former colleagues testified in Thomas’s favor, for example Nancy Altman who worked with Thomas at the Department of Education who said that she had never heard or seen Thomas make a sexist statement (United States, Congress, Senate and Committee on the Judiciary 590). After the Senate Committee hearings, the report was sent to the Judiciary Committee that also returned a 7-7 verdict on the September to the full Senate without any recommendation as to the suitability of Thomas as a judge of the U.S Supreme Court. The U.S Senate later on confirmed Thomas by a vote of 52-48 on October 15, 1991 after a close contest at the senate. Thomas received his commission and took two oaths after the Senate vote but this was delayed due to the death of Chief Justice Rehnquist though it was brought forward in order to forestall further inquiry into his private life (Greenhouse) At the Supreme Court Upon his appointment, Thomas who is perceived as conservative voted most of the time with the conservative judges like the Chief justice Rehnquist and Justice Scalia. He however met stiff opposition from some clerks attached to justices deemed to be liberal who view him as less qualified with inadequate intellect. There is also view that Justice Thomas has in most occasions tried to force his opinion on fellow judges at the Supreme Court that has made him both a friend and a foe at the bench. Thomas’s judicial philosophy has been described as conservatism and originalism and is deemed the most conservative judge at the bench of the U.S Supreme Court (Toobin 99). He is deemed a textualist and in most cases is reluctant to judicial lawmaking, and instead stresses that the role of the judiciary or the courts is to interpret laws and not to make the laws. His voting alignment has been with Justice Scalia mostly due to their conservative inclinations and this explains why the Chief Justice rarely assigned him majority opinions as he would find it difficult to persuade his colleagues to side with his opinions. While at the confirmation hearings, Thomas had strongly advocated for the doctrine of precedence, but at the seat of the Supreme Court, he has departed from this stand and has in the past-overruled precedents. In conclusion, it is important to note that the most challenging period in Justice Clarence Thomas’s career as a jurist has been the United States Senate Hearings whereby he faced accusations of sexual harassment from Anna Hill. He has gone ahead and authorized a biography on his life titled “My Grandfather’s Son” in which he has rebuffed such allegations. On the other hand, Hill has also authored another book reiterating improper conduct on the part of Justice Clarence Thomas, which says he is not fit to hold a position at the United States Supreme Court. Works Cited Campbell, Linda and Drew, Christopher. “Truth proves elusive in nomination drama” Chicago Tribune. 1991, Web. 3 Sept. 2013 Epstein, Aaron. "The Natural Law According To Clarence Thomas". The Seattle Times. 1991. Web. 3 Sept. 2013 Greenhouse, Linda. Thomas Sworn in as 106th Justice", The New York Times (October 24, 1991). Web. 3 Sept. 2013 Merida, Kevin and Michael Fletcher. Supreme Discomfort: The Divided Soul of Clarence Thomas. New York City: Broadway Books. 2008. Print. United States. Congress. Senate and Committee on the Judiciary. Nomination of Judge Clarence Thomas to be Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, Washington, D.C: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1993. Print. Pollitt, Katha. Subject to Debate: Sense and Dissents on Women, Politics, and Culture. Random House: Modern Library, 2001. Print. Toobin, Jeffrey. The Nine: Inside the Secret World of the Supreme Court. New York: Doubleday, 2007. Print. Totenberg, Nina. "Clarence Thomas' Influence On The Supreme Court". NPR). 2011. Web. 3 Sept. 2013 Read More