Thomas says Constitution forbids racial preference

Associated Press ^ | September 9, 2008

[reaganaut1]

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas said Tuesday that African-Americans are better served by colorblind programs than affirmative action.

Thomas, addressing leaders of historically black colleges, said affirmative action ''has become this mantra and there almost has become this secular religiosity about it. I think it almost trumps thinking.''

A longtime opponent of race-based preferences in hiring and school admissions, Thomas said, ''Just from a constitutional standpoint, I think we're going to run into problems if we say the Constitution says we can consider race sometimes.''

[Red in Blue PA]

Re: Thomas said, ‘’Just from a constitutional standpoint, I think we’re going to run into problems if we say the Constitution says we can consider race sometimes.’’

What should be common sense is muddled by leftist thinking.

[djsherin]

***Thomas says Constitution forbids racial preference***

Smart guy.

[Brian S. Fitzgerald]

The Dems must be puffin away in their smoke filled rooms. Losing this election will set back their social change by judicial takeover another four years.

[goldstategop]

A great man! Obama isn't fit to shine Thomas' shoes.

"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus

[shteebo]

...we’re going to run into problems if we say the Constitution says we can consider race sometimes.

It amazes me that people argue against this simple truth.

[irishjuggler]

He wrote with evident resentment in his autobiography ''My Grandfather's Son'' that he felt he was allowed to attend Yale Law School in the 1970s because of his race

I read Thomas' book, and I'm not sure that's an accurate summary. IIRC, Thomas felt that some people at Yale and elsewhere THOUGHT that he had been admitted due to race. In reality, Thomas had been near the very the top of his class at Holy Cross and could likely have been admitted to any law school regardless of any racial preferences.

[unspun]

Clarence Thomas is a hero on the Supreme Court and it is a discrediting of themselves for the current GOP candidates to avoid his name.

[Wuli]

Those who hate Clarence Thomas are not blind; they are simply intellectual dwarfs that he towers over, while they stare at his shoes.

[El Cid]

Agreed.
When Mr. Obama spoke at that Saddleback pseudo-debate that Mr. Thomas was not 'qualified' to be on the Supreme Court; that he somehow was not 'intelligent' enough (I forget the exact words Mr. Obama used - but it was along these lines) - it was truly a moment to choke and spew... Here was this man (Mr. Obama) with zero footprints disparaging a good man (Mr. Thomas) with a great record of standing up for the US Constitution (and not twisting his own opinions, or the moods of the day, into 'what is written').
And I remember the dignity which Mr. Thomas displayed during the personal savaging he took during his confirmation. The lynch mob led by Metzembaum, Biden, Kennedy, etc -- where they even drug out the records of his video rentals... I am thankful that Mr. Thomas withstood all of this dung throwing (which we're seeing as a repeat performance with Mrs. Palin) because the Nation has blessed with a good Judge and a good man. I am disgusted that the cretins that pulled this stuff still carry such power in the Media and Congress...

[Wuli]

People like Biden and Obama agree with Teddy Kennedy who said not to long ago (in words to the affect) that the first U.S. Supreme Court justices should have banned slavery.

These intellectual midgets who praise “legislating from the bench” apparently want to deny, or ignore, that such an act of “judicial fiat” would have ended the country, as one country, in its infancy. But to them, the ends (the ends they seek) always justify the means, any means; and quite often the actual ends, the practical ends of the judicial meddling that they applaud have consequences their little minds cannot contemplate.

Clarence Thomas loves his country and knows the foundation that keeps it safe (still) is the written Constitution, not “better” opinions of judges, including his own. Only such a towering intellect can so greatly serve his fellow citizens; especially when his own life experience could easily, subjectively, point to a “better” decision, outside of the written Constitution. He knows such acts by judges always achieve far more harm than good, in the long run. They obliterate the opening lines of the Constitution, altering them from “We The People to We The Judges”©. (my trademark line)

[vigilence]

So is Obama not only our first Black Presidential candidate but also our first Affirmative Action candidate? I haven’t read anywhere how he made it to those prestigious Ivy League schools from the slums of Chicago. Anyone know for certain?

[editor-surveyor]

"Losing this election will set back their social change by judicial takeover another four 16 years."