Justice Clarence Thomas has served for 32 years on the U.S. Supreme Courtroom the place he has been a constant originalist who has led the Courtroom to maneuver in his course on points as different because the Confrontation Clause; federalism; government energy; and the reining in of the executive state. He has written tons of, if not 1000’s, of opinions, and one factor is obvious from all of them that I’ve learn. All of them replicate Justice Thomas’s authorial voice, and they don’t replicate the authorial voice of his regulation clerks. Justice Thomas’s brilliance, and dedication to originalism shine by in all of his opinions. He’s extra constant, regular, and dependable than some other justice on the Supreme Courtroom. He virtually by no means follows precedent, however he at all times follows the unique public that means of the textual content of the Structure. He’s the perfect justice out of 116 to have ever served on the U.S. Supreme Courtroom higher even than my outdated boss Justice Antonin Scalia. Justice Thomas not solely talks concerning the significance of being an originalist; he practices originalism in each majority opinion, concurrence, or dissent that he writes. I don’t at all times agree with Justice Thomas, however I at all times know the place he stands and why.
I say this as a result of neither authorized academia nor the information business appear to be conscious that the perfect justice, which the Supreme Courtroom has ever had is presently serving on the bench. Left wing bias, and a disinclination to learn Justice Thomas’s opinions, has so skewed our public notion of him that no-one realizes what former Second Circuit Chief Choose Ralph Winter as soon as informed me is true: “Clarence Thomas is quite simply a genius.” Furthermore, Justice Thomas has such a transparent physique of guidelines, which he persistently follows in case after case over 32 years on the bench that it’s as apparent because the day is lengthy that he’s incorruptible in each sense of that phrase. Justice Thomas would by no means “bend” the regulation to please Justice Scalia, his closest buddy; his spouse Ginni Thomas, who’s lively as she has each proper to be in politics, or his good and shut buddy; the Koch brothers; Texas billionaire Harlan Crow; or anybody else. Clarence Thomas can’t be “bought.” He’s utterly and totally incorruptible as anybody who takes the time to learn the opinions, which he produces prolifically can plainly see. I defy the numerous critics of Justice Thomas’s ethics to level to a single final result wherein he wrote any opinion in any respect or took any motion in any respect for a corrupt function.
The assaults within the information media on Justice Thomas are sickening and unfair. To start with, Justice Thomas’s wage is $285,400 per yr. If Congress had adjusted for inflation the wage that Supreme Courtroom justices made in 1969 on the finish of the Warren Courtroom, Justice Thomas can be being paid $500,000 a yr, and he wouldn’t have to rely as a lot as he has on presents from rich associates. Ruth Marcus of the Washington Publish wrote on December nineteenth of this yr that “But — and here is a sentence I am not accustomed to writing — Thomas has a point. Supreme Court justices, and their colleagues on the lower federal courts, ought to be paid more.” Clarence Thomas blundered. However the justices are underpaid.
Legislation College Deans routinely earn salaries of round $500,000 a yr and first yr legal professionals with a Supreme Courtroom clerkship earn as much as a $500,000 signing bonus and an annual wage of $300,000. Prime companions at regulation companies earn as much as $8.4 million a yr. Absolutely Supreme Courtroom justices needs to be paid at the least as a lot as are regulation faculty deans. Congress’s refusal to regulate judicial salaries for the inflation that has occurred since 1969 coincides with the top of the Warren Courtroom and the start of the extra conservative Burger, Rehnquist, and Roberts Courts. Congress is punishing Republican justices and judges by not elevating their salaries to maintain tempo with inflation. Blowhards like RI Senator Sheldon Whitehouse then complain when a person who was filth poor when he was appointed to the Supreme Courtroom settle for presents from shut associates who occur to be rich.
Whitehouse by the way in which is descended from railroad robber barons and Puritan founder William Bradford, attended St. Paul’s College, an elite prep faculty, and Yale Faculty and the College of Virginia Legislation College. Whitehouse has allegedly engaged in insider buying and selling, in attainable violation of the regulation, accepts darkish cash donations from a few of the largest and strongest darkish cash teams on the left, and is a member of Bailey’s Seaside Membership an all white elite personal membership for members of America’s ruling class. Justice Clarence Thomas, in distinction, is descended from enslaved Africans and was riased by his grandfather after his dad and mom deserted him. The very concept that Senator Whitehouse ought to lecture somebody like Justice Clarence Thomas about ethics is laughable and sickening all on the identical time.
There are good the explanation why judicial and government and legislative department salaries must be a lot increased than they now are. We don’t wish to stay in a world the place solely the rich can afford to carry excessive public workplace. Clarence Thomas grew up filth poor as is made clear in his excellent autobiography My Grandfather’s Son. He has devoted his total skilled life as a lawyer to serving in authorities jobs wherein he has been grossly underpaid. Below these circumstances, Thomas, who once more is incorruptible, as his 32 years of judicial opinions all present, has each proper to simply accept presents from rich associates.