Justice Clarence Thomas’ Exemplary Service Has Deep Roots

COMMENTARY Courts

Justice Clarence Thomas’ Exemplary Service Has Deep Roots

Oct 18, 2021 4 min read
COMMENTARY BY
Thomas Jipping

Senior Legal Fellow, Center for Legal and Judicial Studies

Thomas Jipping is a Senior Legal Fellow for the Edwin Meese III Center for Legal and Judicial Studies.
Associate Justice Clarence Thomas sits during a group photo of the Justices at the Supreme Court in Washington, D.C. on April 23, 2021. Erin Schaff-Pool / Getty Images

Key Takeaways

A look at the years before Thomas joined the Court shows that the principles which animate his judicial service have deep roots.

Consistent with this view of limited government, Thomas believes in a judiciary restrained by the Constitution, not one that attempts to control it.

Drawing from his own deep convictions, Justice Clarence Thomas has been vigilant, for 30 years and counting, about the principles that make our liberty possible.

Today marks the 30th anniversary of the 52-48 Senate vote to approve Clarence Thomas’s nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court. His first three decades on the Court provide much to study, evaluate, and learn from. And a look at the years before Thomas joined the Court shows that the principles which animate his judicial service have deep roots.

This piece originally appeared in The National Review on October 15, 2021