It’s a fundamentally undemocratic institution.
Clarence Thomas
Posted inPodcasts
The Clarence Thomas Mindset
The Left Anchor hosts interview Corey Robin about his book on the Supreme Court justice.
Posted inLaw and Justice
Every Woman in America Is Watching
The allegations of sexual assault against Supreme Court hopeful Brett Kavanaugh have roiled the country in much the same way that Anita Hill’s accusations against Clarence Thomas once did. Will the harsh glare of the #MeToo era spark a different outcome?
Posted inArticle
The Limits of Originalism
Two recent rulings by Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas spotlight the limitations of originalist readings of the Constitution, which would dominate a Court controlled by conservatives.
Posted inMoney, Politics, and Power
Who Cares About Clarence Thomas’s Silence?
Criticisms of the Supreme Court justice should focus on merit, not trivia questions about when the last time he asked a question during oral arguments was.
Posted inMoney, Politics, and Power
Yes, Justice Thomas, Affirmative Action Is Constitutional
The Supreme Court’s most ardent originalist gives us a weak argument against the policy.
Posted inArticle
Conservative Victimology, Thomas Edition
Last week’s New Yorker had an article by Jeffrey Toobin about Clarence and Virginia Thomas, which discusses how Mrs. Thomas has developed a career as a conservative activist advocating on many of the issues that come before the court on which her husband sits: Still, the controversy over Ginni’s work has already taken a toll […]
Posted inArticle
Thomas’ Ouija Board Originalism
I meant to write a post about how Justice Clarence Thomas‘ dissent from yesterday’s Supreme Court opinion striking down a ban on selling violent video games to children didn’t involve any actual case law, but Garrett Epps beat me to it, and probably did it better than I would have anyway: Thomas takes a different […]
Posted inArticle
Who Cares About Clarence Thomas’ Silence at Oral Argument?
One of my idiosyncratic hobbyhorses is the argument that while there are many reasons to criticize Clarence Thomas, his famous silence at oral argument isn’t one of them. So I was happy to see Dahlia Lithwick at Slate express a similar view. As Orin Kerr also argues, how much a justice speaks at oral argument […]
Posted inArticle
Balko On “The Clarence Thomas Rule.”
Radley Balko reacts to DougJ calling Juan Williams a “lawn jockey”: Which brings me to the Clarence Thomas Rule.* It goes something like this: When a black person expresses views that liberal elites have deemed unacceptable for black people to hold, it is permissible for good liberals to respond by implying that said black person […]