Reading the Constitution Right: The Jurisprudence of Justice Clarence Thomas

If you want to know why Associate Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas has become arguably the most-admired justice on the Supreme Court (even moreso than Justice Scalia) among conservative Court watchers, read this City Journal piece by Stephen Presser.

I could not agree more with the closing two paragraphs:

Those now beginning to review Thomas’s work more seriously have found it to be much more influential on other justices’ thinking than his critics would have anticipated. In Jan Crawford Greenburg’s groundbreaking Supreme Conflict: The Inside Story of the Struggle for Control of the United States Supreme Court (2007), a Thomas comes into focus who is anything but the African-American cyber-puppet programmed by the wily Scalia. Greenburg shows, for example, not only that Thomas has been unafraid to stake out principled positions when he was the only voice in dissent, but also, in several notable cases, that his draft opinions persuaded Scalia and Rehnquist to change their votes and join him in dissents. With the appointments of John Roberts and Samuel Alito, there may be two more originalist justices for Thomas to influence.

Far from being an embarrassment to the Supreme Court, Thomas is contributing some of its most forceful and learned opinions. Even more remarkable, perhaps, is his willingness to go against the prevailing constitutional wisdom. Race probably did play some part in his selection. But by the time he retires, the general assessment will doubtless be that he was one of the most influential justices of his time.

I'm proud to say that I have met the man. I've met a number of "great" men* thus far in my life, including Justice Scalia, Chief Justice Rehnquist, and Bishop Leonard Blair among others, and Justice Thomas just may be the greatest of the bunch.


* I have also met Justice Kennedy but, for obvious reasons, do NOT include him among the "great". Shortly after I met him (I believe it was a month or so later, in fact), the man turned coat and voted with the majority in Planned Parenthood v. Casey.

UPDATE
If I were writing a biography of Justice Thomas, I would title it The Accidental Justice: How an Affirmative-Action Nominee Who Nearly Wasn't Confirmed Became the Most Principled and Influential Legal Mind on the Supreme Court.


UPDATE #2
On the other hand, if I were writing a biography of Justice Kennedy, I would title it The Accidental Justice: How Ronald Reagan's Third Choice to Replace Lewis Powell Set Back Constitutional Jurisprudence for a Generation.