On the recordOctober 20, 2011
20 years ago this week Justice Clarence Thomas took his seat on the Supreme Court of the United States. With the expectation that these are only the first two of his decades on the Court, I want to offer a few thoughts about Clarence Thomas, both as a judge and as a person. Clarence Thomas was born on June 23, 1948, in Pinpoint, GA. Poverty and segregation contributed to how he understands the past, present, and future of our country but, as he has often said, rising above and growing beyond difficulties is more important than the difficulties themselves. That is a powerful part of his life and the hope that his life represents for us all. Helping him on that path were his maternal grandparents, Myers and Christine Anderson, with whom he lived after the age of 7 and whose influence shaped his character. Few books have had a more poignant title than Justice Thomas' autobiography, My Grandfather's Son, for that is exactly what he was then and remains today. Clarence Thomas was an honor student in high school and the first person in his family to attend college. He graduated cum laude from Holy Cross College with a degree in English literature and in 1974 received his law degree from Yale. After serving as Assistant Attorney General of Missouri under then-Missouri Attorney General John Ashcroft and a stint with the Monsanto Corporation, Thomas accompanied Senator John Ashcroft here to this body as a legislative assistant specializing in energy issues.…
