Clarence Thomas

Clarence Thomas Took a Swipe at My Dissertation Research in a Decision. Here's Why He's Wrong

by Gregory Ablavsky

Historians' work played a huge role in a recent decision affecting Native American children. But the dissent by Clarence Thomas showed an appalling willingness to cherry-pick from the past that undermines originalism's own claims to legitimacy. 

The Modern Relics in Crow's Cabinet of Curiosities

by Matthew Dennis

Understanding Harlan Crow's collection, including Nazi memorabilia, as a set of relics (and not trophies or investments) helps to clarify the unease Americans feel about his understanding of power and cultivation of relationships with people of influence over the federal judiciary.

Conservatives Hate Tenure (Except for Clarence Thomas)

by Tom Nichols

Right-wing politicians with Ivy League degrees are eager to attack tenure at public institutions for political gain, but won't abide questions about Clarence Thomas's integrity.

What Does Clarence Thomas Think Clarence Thomas is Doing?

A panel of scholars and journalists examine a paradox: how Clarence Thomas went from embracing the tenets of Black Nationalism to an administrative and judicial career that most characterize as hostile to the rights of Black Americans. 

The Scandal isn't in Clarence Thomas's Corruption, but His Jurisprudence

by Corey Robin

It's a mistake to ask if receiving gifts from a wealthy benefactor has shaped the Justice's rulings. His rulings have paved the way for the power of money in America. 

We Don't Need to Pretend Clarence Thomas Can Read the Founders' Minds

by Heidi Li Feldman and Dahlia Lithwick

The approach to "original intent" laid out in recent gun control rulings imagines the founders as capable only of the most cramped and limited understanding of the function of law in a society, argue a legal scholar and veteran court reporter. 

Margaret Sanger's Ghost and the Antiabortion Movement

by Melinda Cooper

The anti-abortion right's invocation of eugenics in the Dobbs case and in their public rhetoric might seem cynical. But it could be effective, unless the history of Sanger's relationship to eugenics and reproductive freedom is better understood. 

Corey Robin on the Enigma of Clarence Thomas

The political scientist's 2019 biography of the Justice comes in for new attention with Thomas's controversial judicial opinions (and the alleged actions of his wife on January 6). 

Originalism is Just Selective History

by David H. Gans

"This is a Court that insists it is following history and tradition where they lead, while cherry-picking the history it cares about to reach conservative results."

On the Historical Dilettantes Practicing Originalism

by Joshua Zeitz

"The functional problem with originalism is that it requires a very, very firm grasp of history — a grasp that none of the nine justices, and certainly few of their 20-something law clerks, freshly minted from J.D. programs, possess."

Thomas's Guns Opinion is Ahistorical and Anti-Originalist

by Saul Cornell

"Ultimately, the majority opinion in NYSRPA v. Bruen is one of the most intellectually dishonest and poorly argued decisions in American judicial history."

Adam Winkler on Thomas's Historical Cherry-Picking on Gun Rights

Isaac Chotiner interviews law professor and legal historian Adam Winkler on the selective use of history in the New York state gun rights decision. 

Historian Jeff Shesol: Ginni Thomas's 1/6 Involvement Poses Unprecedented Crisis for Court's Legitimacy

"In a very real sense, Clarence and Ginni Thomas are answerable only to Clarence and Ginni Thomas. The Trump Administration gave us all a hard lesson in how few actual rules bind the behavior of our national leaders."

Clarence Thomas says a Smithsonian exhibit about him is wrong. (It’s not.)

This is the second time the museum has come under fire for its treatment of the second African American member of the Supreme Court. 

Historians call Clarence Thomas’ anti-abortion argument, "A gross misuse of historical facts"

“Linking the pro-choice movement to racism . . . He’s a bad man,” Georgia State law professor Eric Segall says

Adam Cohen: Clarence Thomas Knows Nothing of My Work

by Adam Cohen

The justice used my book to tie abortion to eugenics. But his rendition of the history is incorrect.

How the FBI’s flawed investigation of Clarence Thomas became a model for Kavanaugh’s

And why it shouldn't.  For one thing, the FBI never talked to — or even knew to look for — four potential witnesses who had knowledge of Anita Hill’s complaints about Thomas.

What happens when women talk to Congress about sex

by Kimberly A. Hamlin

They’re repeatedly ignored.

"A high-tech lynching"

How Clarence Thomas’s fury saved his Supreme Court nomination

Anita Hill's Testimony Didn't Stop a Supreme Court Confirmation…

But It Did Affect Election Results