Orrin Hatch: “25 years ago next month, the Senate confirmed, and President George H.W. Bush appointed, Clarence Thomas to be an…”

“25 years ago next month, the Senate confirmed, and President George H.W. Bush appointed, Clarence Thomas to be an Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. To paraphrase John F. Kennedy, I would like to note both what this country has done for Justice Thomas and what Justice Thomas is doing for this country. President Bush made the announcement of then-Judge Thomas's Supreme Court nomination on July 1, 1991, at the Bush home in Maine. In his brief remarks, Judge Thomas said: ``Only in America could this have been possible.'' He was right. It would be difficult to find a more powerful story about how far someone can go in this country. Clarence Thomas was born on June 23, 1948, in a small wood-frame house in the rural town of Pin Point, GA. Six people lived in that house, which had no indoor plumbing. Life in the world of Clarence's youth was fully segregated. In 1955, the year after the Supreme Court ruled segregated education unconstitutional, he and his brother moved in with his maternal grandparents, Myers and Christine Anderson. Myers Anderson lacked the outward material signs of success that many prize so highly today. He grew up poor, without a father, and had only a third grade education. Yet it was what he had, rather than what he lacked, that would make him the most profound influence on his grandson, Clarence Thomas. Mr.…”