If there’s one man aside from Donald Trump who enrages the left so much that the establishment media just can’t let go of their obsession with linking him to ginned up scandals, it is Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. Recently, the associate justice has come under considerable fire for having, over a period of many years, accepted “personal hospitality” from his billionaire friend, Harlan Crow. This “personal hospitality” came in the form of gifts and expensive vacations that Thomas did not report. Contrary to what is being claimed by those whose only real concern is the establishment of an ideologically driven progressive Supreme Court majority, none of that was illegal. Ethics or the rule of law plays no real part in the persecution of Clarence Thomas. He represents so much of what the left despises, both as a man and as a jurist.
Clarence Thomas Ain’t Black
Democrat politicians and the wider progressive movement have made a big deal out of celebrating all things black. They have now even taken to spelling the word with a capital “B.” But there are few people in America for whom they harbor more disdain than black conservatives. This mindset was demonstrated perfectly by Joe Biden himself during a 2020 interview with radio host Charlamagne tha God. The presidential candidate cut the interview short, and Charlamagne suggested they set up a second round at a later date because “we’ve got more questions.” Mr. Biden responded, “You’ve got more questions? Well, I tell you what, if you have a problem figuring out whether you’re for me or Trump, then you ain’t black.”
The clear implication – and it is arguably something that all progressives believe – is that blacks have a duty to vote Democrat; any who don’t should not even be considered black. Little wonder that Clarence Thomas, the second black man ever to serve on the Supreme Court and debatably the most conservative of all the nine current justices, is so intensely disliked by people on the left.
From Poverty to Pariah
Thomas was born in Pin Point, GA, in 1948. When he was two years old his father abandoned the family. When he was seven, he and his brother were sent to live with his grandfather. He later entered a seminary school as the only black student. Rising from poverty and racism to become an assistant attorney general in Missouri, chairman of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), and then a judge on the US Court of Appeals in Washington, DC, Thomas seemed to be exactly the kind of figure the black community would consider a role model for its youth. But even back in those days, he was universally despised by the left and already had attracted a cadre of media critics.
Anita Hill (Photo by Leon Bennett/Getty Images)
Clarence Thomas has served on the Supreme Court since 1991. He was appointed by then-President George H.W. Bush. Thomas was heavily criticized for his work at EEOC because he wouldn’t aggressively promote affirmative action. “I don’t believe in quotas,” he once said. “America was founded on a philosophy of individual rights, not group rights.” Had he been white, Thomas would have been branded by the left as a racist. The fact that he was black was hugely inconvenient.
During his confirmation hearings for the Supreme Court, Thomas was faced with accusations of sexual harassment by Anita Hill. When Thomas was at the Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights, he hired Hill as a special assistant. Hill claimed Thomas began harassing her soon after she took the job. However, when Thomas went to the EEOC, Hill went with him. The alleged harassment was not physical in nature. Hill claimed Thomas repeatedly asked her out on dates and spoke with her graphically about sex. Thomas denied the accusations.
Hill testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee. Republicans subjected her to quite an ordeal and Hill, along with a lot of others, felt the committee chairman had failed to protect her from some inappropriate questioning. That chairman was none other than Sen. Joseph R. Biden.
The FBI investigated the matter and submitted its report to the committee and to the White House, which concluded that the accusations were “unfounded.” The committee sent Thomas’s nomination to the Senate floor without a recommendation after a 7-7 committee vote on whether to recommend Thomas’s confirmation. He was confirmed, anyway, by a narrow party-line vote.
Standing in Their Way
Clarence Thomas (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)
Arguably, this was the left’s most terrifying nightmare, a black conservative on the Supreme Court. Worse still, many years later, President Donald Trump gets the chance to nominate three more conservative justices. Since then, progressives and Democrat politicians have been desperate to regain control of the Court. Clarence Thomas is their main target.
A recent report from ProPublica on Thomas’s relationship with Harlan Crow has sent many media outlets into a frenzy. Washington’s most famous left-wing newspaper, along with NBC, MSNBC, The Los Angeles Times, Vanity Fair, The Boston Globe, and more, have run with the story. By not reporting the gifts from Crow, Thomas may have taken advantage of a loophole in the reporting rule for Supreme Court justices. Something that can be considered “personal hospitality” is not reportable.
Nevertheless, Democrats are having their “we’ve got him now” moment, just as they did with Trump’s two impeachments, the special counsel investigation into his alleged links to Russia – that never existed – and, more recently, with his indictment in Manhattan. There are calls to investigate Clarence Thomas, but no one should be laboring under the illusion that this is about the law or ethics. It is only about controlling the highest court in the land. Trump is fond of saying, “They are not after me, they are after you. I’m just standing in their way.” Clarence Thomas could make the very same observation.
