Clarence Thomas Essay

Clarence Thomas was appointed to the Supreme Court to replace Thurgood Marshall, however, regarding his stances, Thomas is practically the “anti-Thurgood”. Thomas approaches constitutional interpretation of the law through the “originalist” perspective, meaning this “philosophy calls for interpreting the Constitution by looking to the words in the document” (American progress). Thomas is one of the many Roman Catholics sitting on the Court and is also widely considered the most conservative. Clarence Thomas had been said to have specific policy preferences closer to that of an extreme conservative. Thomas is anti-gay marriage and he is against affirmative action. His stances on these policies are mostly obvious given his political and religious ideologies, however, one could say that his rejection to affirmative action is odd. Many would assume that because Clarence Thomas is an African American then he should be for Affirmative Action, but in fact he sees this program as demeaning to African Americans. He believes Affirmative Action basically implies that minorities are “somehow inferior to their white classmates” (Clarence Thomas on Civil Rights); and that it teaches that they would not be able to achieve success without a crutch and therefore held to a different standard by their peers. It is widely accepted that a Justices policy preferences are exposed through their decisions on cases or dissents thereof. Last July, in 2015, it was stated that Justice Thomas wrote a total of 36 opinions in that particular term. Half (18) of them were in the form of dissents, written both with others and alone; this total amount however, did not include his separate opinions (The Atlantic). Thomas often sided or dissented alongside other conservative Justices sitting on the Supreme Court, such as: Justices Scalia, Alito, Rehnquist, and Roberts. Clarence Thomas’s policy preferences are largely constricted regarding civil rights; in fact, he has left a major impact on this area of law. …show more content…
His stances on the issues regarding these protections prove that “he may be more opposed than any other justice to the governments consideration of race in programs that help African Americans” (American Progress). Actually, after Clarence Thomas’s spoke about the past Brown vs Board of Education case, a case challenged by Thurgood Marshall for the NAACP against segregation among schools, it was stated that “it is now clear that the second black justice is doing everything in his power to undo nearly everything that the first black justice accomplished—as a lawyer and a judge—to ensure a more equal society” (American Progress). Unforeseeably, the decision marked in the original case of Brown vs Board of Education was practically overturned in 2007 as one of the many cases of which Thomas …show more content…
It is stated that Thomas is “clearly on good terms with his colleagues, and is a beloved figure within the small world of Court personnel” (The Atlantic). However, he will continuously be known for his extremely conservative ideals, his unique path toward entering the Court, and his distinctive approach to the law. His legacy so far has been of surprises and his memoirs are detailed in his book titled My Grandfather’s Son. There has been question on whether Thomas is “evolving”, reducing his extreme conservative outlook; however, the morals of a conservative will likely remain intact. It has been said that “Thomas will probably leave the Court with the most conservative record in its history” (The