For a long time, extremists on the left end of the political spectrum have gotten through American courts what they could not get through the legislative process, because that recognizes the opinion of voters whereas when liberal judges are placed in office, there is little accountability.
That’s how same-sex “marriage” was created for the nation.
But through circumstances and events beyond his control, President Trump was given the opportunity to appoint three voices to that nine-member bench, and all of them fall far away from the progressive extremism that previous court decisions represented.
For that alone, Democrats hate him. Sen. Chuck Schumer was on video threatening two of Trump’s appointees for their conservative opinions which fall closer to the Constitution and further from progressive ideology.
It is directly a result of Trump’s appointees that abortion no longer is a federal “right” but states have permission to regulate the industry.
So with Trump out of office, and under assault as the 2024 campaign ramps up, the Democrats’ remaining targets include the members of the conservative wing of the high court, specifically Justice Clarence Thomas.
He’s been targeted by dozens of articles accusing him of a wide range of offenses, when his actions have been within the spectrum of acceptable actions for justices.
Now, following a documentary by filmmaker Michael Pack about his career, a coalition of former clerks for Thomas has assembled a letter in defense of his honor.
According to Fox News, “112 of Justice Thomas’ former clerks say news stories attacking him are ‘part of larger attack on the Court’ and its ‘legitimacy.’”
In fact, Democrats are on a campaign to undermine trust in the Supreme Court by charging that its decisions are political, and the only way to make them less political is to add a number of justices espousing leftist politics to the vote count there.
The letter in defense is blunt: “As his law clerks, we offer this response. Different paths led us to our year with Justice Thomas, and we have followed different paths since. But along the way, we all saw with our own eyes the same thing: His integrity is unimpeachable. And his independence is unshakable, deeply rooted seven decades ago as that young child who walked through the door of his grandparents’ house for a life forever changed.”
Those who signed include those who now are solicitors general, general counsels, partners at litigation firms and law professors. Three circuit court judges also signed the letter: David Stras on the 8th Circuit, Jim Ho of the 5th Circuit, and Allison Rushing, 4th Circuit, the report explained.
The letter notes how Thomas “descended from West African slaves and [was] born to a young mother, not more than 20, in segregated Georgia.”
His father had left and “a fire took all he had and the shack where he lived,” they said. So Thomas was, with all of his belongings in a half-filled paper grocery bag, sent to his grandparents.
They enrolled him in a Catholic school but when Martin Luther King Jr. and President Kennedy were assassinated, “It transformed him. He left behind hopes of the priesthood. He found Black Power. He wrote about revolution. He protested.
“He went to law school. He became a father. He worked for legal aid. He saw forced busing and violence and insolence in South Boston. He devoted himself to doing better for his son,” they explained.
Eventually, in Washington, he “pulled at every thread of his country’s founding and its history – a country that had simultaneously enslaved his ancestors while declaring ‘all men are created equal.’”
The wrote from their own experiences with Thomas, “He is a man of unwavering principle. He welcomes the lone dissent. He is also a man of great humor and warmth and generosity. Walk the halls, and you’ll hear his laugh. Call, and he answers. His grandfather’s sayings become our sayings. His chambers become our chambers – a place fueled by unstoppable curiosity and unreturned library books, all to get every case just right.”
The letter accuses Thomas’ critics of trying “to write over his actual story.”
“Lately, the stories have questioned his integrity and his ethics for the friends he keeps. They bury the lede. These friends are not parties before him as a justice of the court. And these stories are malicious, perpetuating the ugly assumption that the justice cannot think for himself.”
They describe the attacks on Thomas as part of a war against the court itself, and its legitimacy.
Fox reported it was Pro Publica that has played a large role in the attacks on Thomas, reporting about vacations Thomas took involving travel on a private jet, a donation that helped his great-nephew attend school and the like.
Thomas confirmed he’s always followed disclosure guidelines, and said if they change he will follow the new rules.
Republicans have confirmed the blasts at Thomas are nothing but party politics.
