At Law & Liberty, Mark Pulliam: Clarence Thomas, a Profile in Courage (reviewing Going Further: The Incomparable Clarence Thomas by Senator Ted Cruz). From the introduction:
Supreme Court Associate Justice Clarence Thomas is remarkable in many ways. His unusual journey from impecunious, fatherless circumstances in Jim Crow-era Pin Point, Georgia, to Yale Law School and the Marble Temple of the Supreme Court is dramatic enough, as I recounted here in 2020. Thomas has also survived vicious personal attacks at his 1991 confirmation hearing, a gauntlet of vile abuse—much of it overtly racist—unprecedented for a sitting Supreme Court justice, baseless assaults on his integrity and ethics, and snide insinuations that he was a ventriloquist’s dummy for his conservative colleague, the late Antonin Scalia. Being called an “Uncle Tom,” a “lawn jockey for the far right,” or “the cruelest justice” were among the milder insults hurled at Thomas. None of these aspersions were well-founded, yet Thomas has retained his good humor and is “universally adored”—even according to left-wing journalist Jeffrey Toobin!—by the Court’s staff for his friendly, unassuming demeanor.
Despite the Left’s best efforts to derail Thomas’s confirmation and to discredit his tenure on the Court, Thomas—just 43 years old when he was appointed by President George H. W. Bush—is closing in on Justice William O. Douglas’s longevity record of 36 years, 206 days. With 34 years of service, the 78-year-old Thomas, now in second place, will surpass Douglas’s record on May 19, 2028. Thomas has disclaimed any intentions of retirement, and with continued good health, should be able to set a new record for longevity on the Court. Thomas is not just a bench-warmer. His rigorous application of originalism and disregard for stare decisis have made him a jurisprudential pioneer. Thomas’s uncompromising approach has earned him an avid fan base and rock star status within the Federalist Society set.
Thomas’s confirmation travails generated a shelf of books, including his mentor Sen. John “Jack” Danforth’s Resurrection (1994). Thomas himself recounted his life story in his compelling (and best-selling) 2007 memoir, My Grandfather’s Son. A 2020 documentary on Thomas, Created Equal: Clarence Thomas in His Own Words, was based in large part on My Grandfather’s Son. Now, Senator Ted Cruz has written a book about Thomas, Going Further: The Incomparable Clarence Thomas, that draws on nine and a half hours of interviews with the justice, whom he regards as a friend. Cruz weaves together Thomas’s compelling biography and his body of consequential Supreme Court decisions.
Cruz aims “to tell the story of Clarence Thomas’s life and explain why I believe he has been so incredibly impactful. Following the example of my subject, I will strive to speak clearly and directly, avoiding pretension or legalese and explaining his legacy in a way that anyone, lawyer or non-lawyer, can understand and hopefully appreciate.” At the end of Going Further, Cruz acknowledges that many of his readers will be young people, “reading this [book] because your mom or a friend or an uncle with excellent taste gave it to you for your high school or college or law school graduation. … I hope you come away from this story inspired to stick to your principles … the way Clarence Thomas has always stuck to his.” Summarizing and quoting from his lengthy interviews with Thomas sometimes gives the book an “as told to” quality, but Cruz spices it up with his own anecdotes as a Supreme Court clerk, advocate, and member of the Senate Judiciary Committee. Cruz is not an invisible or silent narrator. Thomas’s unique biography is powerful enough to sustain the narrative. …
Posted at 6:25 AM