Clarence Thomas: Difference between revisions - Wikipedia

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'''Clarence Thomas ''' (born [[June 23]], [[1948]]) is an American [[jurist]] and has been an [[List of Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States|Associate Justice]] of the [[Supreme Court of the United States]] since [[1991]]. He is the second [[African American]] to serve on the nation's highest court, after [[Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States|Justice]] [[Thurgood Marshall]]. Thomas's career in the Supreme Court has seen him take a [[Conservatism|conservative]] approach to cases while adhering to the postulates of [[originalism]].

==Personal life==

Clarence Thomas was born in [[Pin Point, Georgia]], a small community outside [[Savannah, Georgia|Savannah]]. His father abandoned his family when he was only two years old,<ref name="Wash_Post_Mag_2002">Merida K, Fletcher M, [http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&node=&contentId=A23641-2002Jul30 "Supreme Discomfort"], ''Washington Post Magazine'', August 4, 2002. Accessed May 7, 2007.</ref> leaving his mother Leola Anderson to take care of the family. When Thomas was seven they went to live with his mother's father, Myers Anderson, in Savannah. He had a [[fuel oil]] business that also sold ice; Thomas often helped him make deliveries.

His grandfather believed in hard work and self-reliance and would counsel him to "never let the sun catch you in bed in the morning." In [[1975]], when Thomas read ''[[Race and Economics]]'' by economist [[Thomas Sowell]], he found an intellectual foundation for this philosophy.<ref name="Wash_Post_Mag_2002"/> The book criticized social reforms by government and instead argued for individual action to overcome circumstances and adversity. He was also influenced by [[Ayn Rand]]'s bestselling book ''[[The Fountainhead]]'', and would later require his staffers to watch the 1949 film version. The plot describes an architect's struggle to maintain his integrity against the forces of conformity, something Thomas could relate to his own career in the U.S. government.<ref name="Wash_Post_Mag_2002"/>

Raised [[Roman Catholic Church|Roman Catholic]] (he later attended an [[Episcopal Church in the United States of America|Episcopal]] church with his wife, but returned to the [[Roman Catholic Church|Catholic Church]] in the late 1990s), Thomas considered entering the priesthood, attending St. John Vianney's Minor Seminary on the [[Isle of Hope]] near Savannah and, briefly, [[Conception Seminary College]], a [[Roman Catholic Church|Roman Catholic]] [[seminary]] in [[Missouri]]. Thomas told interviewers that he left the seminary (and the call for priesthood) after overhearing a student say, in response to the news that Dr. [[Martin Luther King, Jr.]] had been shot, "Good, I hope the SOB dies."

In [[1968]], Clarence Thomas responded to a minority recruitment program and enrolled in the [[College of the Holy Cross]], a [[Roman Catholic Church|Roman Catholic]] [[Liberal arts colleges in the United States|school]] in [[Worcester, Massachusetts]].{{Fact|date=October 2007}} There he helped found the Black Student Union and graduated in [[1971]] with an [[Bachelor of Arts|A.B.]], ''[[cum laude]]'' in English. He then attended [[Yale Law School]] from which he received a [[Juris Doctor]] (J.D.) degree in [[1974]]. To [[Dennis Prager]], Judge Thomas has stated his opinion that, in his early career, his Yale law degree was not taken seriously by law firms to which he applied, who assumed that it was obtained because of affirmative action policies. [http://www.townhall.com/TalkRadio/Show.aspx?RadioShowID=3&ContentGuid=8b54ead4-9c5c-4dff-acba-aedc11a408db]

Thomas has one child, Jamal Adeen, from his first marriage. This marriage, to Kate Ambush, lasted from 1971 until their [[1984]] divorce. Thomas married [[Virginia Lamp Thomas|Virginia Lamp]] in [[1987]]. After Thomas' nephew was convicted of pointing a pistol at another person in [[1997]], he gave permission for Thomas to take custody of his son, who was six years old at the time. He went on to attend Randolph-Macon Academy.<ref>[http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/21/AR2007042101475.html Washington Post]</ref>

Since joining the Supreme Court, Thomas requested an [[annulment]] of his first marriage from the Roman Catholic Church, which was granted by the Tribunal of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Arlington. He was reconciled to the Church in the mid-1990s and remains a practicing [[Roman Catholic Church|Roman Catholic]].

In [[1994]], Thomas performed, at his home, the wedding ceremony for radio host [[Rush Limbaugh]]'s third marriage, to Marta Fitzgerald.<ref>[http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=980DE2D7123BF933A05756C0A962958260&n=Top%2fReference%2fTimes%20Topics%2fPeople%2fT%2fThomas%2c%20Clarence NYT Chronicle Article, 5/30/94]</ref>

As his wife grew up in Nebraska and attended college at the [[University of Nebraska]]. Thomas is an avid [[Nebraska Cornhuskers]] fan who attends Husker football games, and in 2007 met with the 2006 National Championship Husker Volleyball team, telling them he bled Husker red.<ref>[http://www.columbustelegram.com/articles/2007/06/19/sports/sports1nuvolleyball.txt Columbus Telegram]</ref><ref>Rush Limbaugh, [http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/home/daily/site_091707/content/01125107.guest.html.guest.html Rush Recounts His Trip to Lincoln], www.rushlimbaugh.com, September 17, 2007.</ref>

==Career==