Clarence Thomas: The Biography - Paperback

by Mark Lewis (Author)

Clarence Thomas is an American lawyer and jurist who serves as an associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. He was nominated by President George H. W. Bush to succeed Thurgood Marshall, and has served since 1991. Thomas is the second African American to serve on the Court, after Marshall. Since 2018, Thomas has been the longest-serving member of the Court with a tenure of over 30 years, making him the most senior associate justice on the Supreme Court.

Thomas grew up in a poor, Gullah community in Savannah, Georgia, and was educated at the College of the Holy Cross and Yale Law School. He was appointed an assistant attorney general in Missouri in 1974, and later entered private practice there. He became a legislative assistant to United States Senator John Danforth in 1979, and he was appointed Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights at the U.S. Department of Education in 1981. President Ronald Reagan appointed Thomas Chairman of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) in 1982.

President George H. W. Bush nominated Thomas to the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in 1990. He served in that role for 16 months before filling Marshall's seat on the Supreme Court. Thomas's confirmation hearings were bitter and intensely fought, centering on an accusation that he had sexually harassed attorney Anita Hill, a subordinate at the Department of Education and the EEOC. Hill claimed that Thomas made multiple sexual and romantic overtures to her despite her repeatedly telling him to stop. Thomas and his supporters asserted that Hill, as well as the witnesses on her behalf and supporters, had fabricated the allegations to prevent the appointment of a black conservative to the Court. The Senate confirmed Thomas by a vote of 52-48.

Supreme Court experts describe Thomas's jurisprudence as originalist, stressing the original meaning of the United States Constitution and statutes. He also supported ideas of natural law before becoming a judge. Thomas is widely held to be the Court's most conservative member.