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This is a good man
Rush had Justice Clarence Thomas on his show today for 90 minutes . It was fascinating. This is a good man.
As you may know, he is married to a Nebraskan and loves Red State football. As he told Rush, “I bleed Cornhusker red.”
As great as that is, that is not what makes him good. Clarence Thomas is a brilliant, articulate, and humble man. When Rush asked him what his role on the Court is, he answered:
JUSTICE THOMAS: My role is to interpret the Constitution, when it’s a constitutional case and a case or controversy. It’s to interpret a statute. It is not to impose my policy views or my personal views on your Constitution, our Constitution, or on your laws. It’s not my private preserve to work out these theories, and I guard very, very diligently against doing that. I think a part of being able to stay within the confines of that limited role, one has to be humble about one’s — a judge has to be humble about his — own approach and what his capacities are. Before I start the term, and certainly in many, many cases, I had a little prayer that I used to say years ago when I was at EEOC: “Lord, grant me the wisdom to know what is right and the courage to do it.” So I also think that, in addition to wisdom or humility, you need the courage to do what is right. If the answer is something that is difficult or that will lead to criticism, you still have to do it, if it’s right. It’s your oath. So that’s, in a nutshell, my approach to the job.
There was another great interview of Justice Thomas on Sixty Minutes. It was a wide-ranging interview that included, for the first time, Justice Thomas talking about the elephant in the room during his confirmation hearings: abortion.
Thomas believes the real issue being fought over during his confirmation was all but unspoken. “The issue was abortion. That’s the issue today,” Thomas says. “That was the elephant in the room.”
“In what sense?” Kroft asks.
“That was it. That’s the issue. That is the issue that people apparently are so upset about. That you determine the composition of your Supreme Court and your entire federal judiciary, it seems now,” Thomas says.
“Your opponents were afraid that you might at some point rule against or help overturn Roe V. Wade?” Kroft asks.
“I have no idea what they thought. But they knew one thing. They weren’t in charge of me. So, I wasn’t gonna do their bidding,” Thomas says.
Thomas believes the issue of abortion is not addressed in the Constitution and should be left to the states to decide.
Amen.
Justice Thomas is promoting his new book: My Grandfather’s Son.
Congratulations, Justice Thomas, you are now an honorary Red State Rascal.