I always assumed that Clarence Thomas was smarter than his critics gave him credit for. Sure, his opinions were largely political and the law took a back-seat to the outcome for him, but I had believed there must be something more to him than simply being another African-American to replace the great Thurgood Marshall. Alas, I may have overestimated him.
NPR reports today on a series of interviews the justices did in 2007, and Thomas does himself no favors.
While other justices discussed authors that have influenced their writing, including important literary figures such as Proust, Stendhal, Montesquieu, Nabokov, Hemingway, Shakespeare, Solzhenitsyn, Dickens, etc, Thomas responds that ‘a good legal brief reminds him of the TV show 24.’ When asked if he would describe himself as a word lover, Thomas replied “Not particularly. … I like buses and football and cars.”[emphasis mine]
He said he doesn’t talk during oral arguments because he views the fast pace of questions to counsel as “unnecessarily intense.”
“I don’t like the back and forth, and I’ve been very clear about that, and I won’t participate,” he said.
He’s like a petulant 4-year old, in both his interests and his demeanor.
