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JASON CROSBY
A RODENT IN ROBES
Clarence Thomas' appalling judicial career has been devoted
to denigrating and downsizing the rights of Americans. Weirdly,
tragically, his court opinions repeatedly, systematically and
methodically shred the Bill of Rights and other freedom docu
ments, even as a rodent gnaws at waste paper.
Thomas is implacably hostile to civil rights and liberties
claims (unless the claim is presented by a real property owner,
by a white male complaining of racial discrimination, or by a
prisidential candidate named George Bush), and almost always
resolves disputes between the government and the individual
in favor of government. He almost always spurns the claims
of citizens claiming their rights have been violated by police
or prosecutors, and usually supports outcomes that favor an
assertion of governmental power. He is hostile to civil rights
laws while aggressively supporting death penalty laws. He is
astute in finding technical or procedural defects in the legal
claims of persons asking the judiciary to protect their rights,
but indifferent to lawless acts of government. The principal
victims of his coldness toward human rights are those who
are politically weak or powerless: prisoners, indigents, minors,
noncitizens, the mentally deficient, and racial and
j ethnic minorities, especially black males. No recent
Supreme Court Justice comes even close to Thomas
in having such an atrocious history of ruling against
claims made by black men. In snubbing those who
seek the shelter of constitutional protections, Thomas
frequently writes opinions that are scornful in tone or
even mocking.
In articles published in Flagpole on Apr. 30, 2003;
May 28, 2003; and Oct. 18, 2006, I examined at length
Justice Thomas' bizarre judicial opinions, many of
them sick, sick, sick. Since then, Thomas continues to
author opinions that are striking in their unfriendli
ness to individual rights. Examples:
Because of the credible (but ultimately unresolved) sexual
harassment charges leveled against him by Anita Hill and oth
ers at his confirmation hearings, as well as his creepy-crawly
anti-individual rights voting record on the Supreme Court,
nearly every time U. S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas
visits a university campus there are protests by faculty and stu
dents, and now Michael Adams' decision to invite Thomas to be
the commencement speaker at the upcoming UGA graduation
ceremony has created a furor. For years, UGA administrators
appear to have tolerated sexual harassment on campus, and in
recent months there have been startling revelations of proven
sexual harassment committed by several professors. Professors
and students critical of the invitation therefore maintain that
inviting Thomas is a classic example of bad timing.
A person elevated to the Court should be above suspi
cion, but Justice Thomas joined the Court under a dark cloud
that has never been lifted. It may well be that he is a sexual
harasser, and, since he denied the charges under oath, he may
also be a perjurer. (At his confirmation hearings Thomas was
unquestionably deceptive and evasive concerning his judicial
• In Hein v. Freedom from Religion Foundation, 127
S.Ct. 2553 (2007), he opined that taxpayers could
never challenge government expenditures in support of
religion which violate the Bill of Rights, and advocated
overruling the leading case allowing such challenges.
• In Wilkie v. Robbins, 127 S.Ct. 2588 (2007), he
derided the leading case permitting citizens to sue
for damages federal agents who violate their Fourth
Amendment rights and urged it “should be limited to
[its] precise circumstances."
• In Morse v. Frederick, 127 S.Ct. 2618 (2007), he
stated that "the Constitution does not afford students
a right to free speech in public schools [!]." He also
urged overruling the leading case holding that public
school students do have free speech rights.
• In Snyder v. Louisiana, 128 S.Ct. 1203 (2008), he
dissented from the Court's decision to reverse a black
man's death sentence where there had been racial dis
crimination by the prosecutor in jury selection.
philosophy, masquerading as a moderate and pretending to be
a man of compassion who respects human rights, when in fact,
he is an ice-cold extremist with a radical anti-rights agenda.)
Such a man should never have been permitted to sit on our
highest court; and those who protest that he is a poster child
for sexual harassment are fully justified in contending that he
is unworthy of the honor of being a commencement speaker at
the present time. Eager for power, Thomas consciously elected
to join the Court even though he had not been cleared of
charges of serious misbehavior, thereby dooming himself to
the type of recurring antagonisms now directed at him here
and on other college campuses. This opposition to Thomas was
entirely predictable and constitutes his just desserts for his
poor choice-making.
But putting to one side the umbrella of suspicion over
Thomas at the time he was confirmed, picking Thomas as grad
uation speaker remains a grotesque blunder. Thomas may be,
as Michael Adams says, a friend of UGA, but he is no friend of
liberty. He is the most reactionary judge to sit on the Supreme
Court since James McReynolds stepped down in 1941. Why
honor such a judge, who desea'es chastisement, not lauding?
• In Baze v. Rees, 128 S.Ct. 1520 (2008), he and Justice Scalia
alone rejected the view of the rest of the Court that a method
of execution is unconstitutional if it poses a substantial risk of
unnecessary pain, arguing instead that the method is uncon
stitutional only if it is deliberately designed to inflict unneces
sary pain (even though it does inflict such pain).
Clarence Thomas may be a Supreme Court Justice, but he is
an evil judge, one of the worst of modern times. His judicial
career is disgraceful. His consistent support for attenuating our
liberties is shocking. He has no empathy for the downtrodden
or oppressed. He needs to be watched, not honored. It would
be a horrible mistake for the UGA to become hipjoined with
him. His infamy would stain the university.
When Michael Adams invited Clarence Thomas he manifested
lamentable judgment. He also revealed defects in his olfactory
organs. Evidently he cannot smell a rat.
Donald E. Wilkes, Jr.
Donald E. Wilkes, Jr. teaches in the UGA School of Law.
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