Supreme Thomas

National Review ^ | 10/21/2011 | Calabresi, Long, Severino, Yoo

[Servant of the Cross]

This weekend marks the 20th anniversary of Clarence Thomas’s swearing in on the United States Supreme Court. National Review Online asked some experts, including some former clerks for Thomas, to discuss his record.

STEVEN CALABRESI
Justice Thomas has had a huge impact on American law during his 20 years on the U.S. Supreme Court. He writes beautiful and well-researched opinions brimming with historical information. Justice Thomas is a consistent originalist who always follows the text of the Constitution wherever it leads. His opinions combine the textualism of Justice Hugo Black with a thorough discussion of the original meaning of the constitutional clauses at issue in any given case. Justice Thomas has led the Supreme Court in the revival of federalism, of Second Amendment rights, and with respect to the Confrontation Clause. His concurrences and dissents have had an effect. I know from teaching Supreme Court cases to law students and college students that Justice Thomas’s opinions are always among the best. Justice Thomas has reshaped American law very powerfully.

[Servant of the Cross]

And Justice Thomas memorably put SloJoe Biden and his 'high-tech lynching' in its rightful place

[Da Coyote]

Every time I hear him speak, I’m impressed. It’s a good thing we’ve got folks like Thomas, Cain, Williams, Sowell, and many more to demonstrate to folks that Obama is not the normal...he’s 10 sigmas to the left of average ability.

[PapaNew]

Well, he's the best of the bunch IMO. Scalia has also been a huge factor in bringing some kind of Constitutional sanity and conservative values back to SCOTUS and the US, but Thomas has been a Constitutional mainstay. His opinions are often short and to the point, rare among SCOTUS Justices. Thomas usually does not deviate from original-intent constitutional-based reasoning, also rare among SCOTUS Justices.

I hope he stays on for another 20 years until we can get six or seven on SCOTUS just like him.

[OldNavyVet]

Went to see and hear Justice Thomas at a local university and caught this highlight thought.

I can't say I've got it perfect. The following is from memory.

Justice Thomas said one of his first thoughts upon reaching the Supreme Court was ...How did I get here?

And his later thought, about certain other Justices ...

How did he (or she) get here?

[Squidpup]

This was when I “woke up” to political reality - the left will do anything to destroy

[PapaNew]

That’s funny.

[conservatism_IS_compassion]

This weekend marks the 20th anniversary of Clarence Thomas’s swearing in on the United States Supreme Court.

Seems like yesterday.

The only possible way to get a full, comfortable majority expeditiously would be to pass a constitutional amendment defining who is on the court, by name. It would be great to have a procedure which could be relied upon to install a Thomasite Court, but I confess that I do not know just what that would be.

[BuckeyeTexan]

SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES

FReepmail me to subscribe to or unsubscribe from the SCOTUS ping list.

[Jacquerie]

Juries of the people are called to decide felony cases, but panels of judges, or a single judge decide the Constitutionality of laws at the district and appellate level.

Why?

[Salvation]

BTTT for Justice Thomas. I admire him greatly.