Although Justice Clarence Thomas says
nothing while on the bench--reportedly he asks no questions and makes no
comments--he occasionally gives speeches to various friendly bodies. The
James Madison University was one of those friendly bodies. Clarence Thomas
said that the court does not base its decisions on politics. He
contended that it is a mistake to think that the court regards politics in
its decision-making.
Furthermore, he said that he wished that the nation
could have seen the court functioning to come to its decision about the
presidential election. He implied that while all America was pulling its
hair out, the court was rationally wadding through the thorny issues with
a clear mind, void of any political agenda. Any other tales to be told?
If Thomas actually wanted America to observe how well the court carries on its deliberations, he and they need only allow cameras into the courtroom. He claims that within his almost 10 years on the bench, he has never heard an unkind word uttered by anyone there. How idyllic a situation can one get?
Thomas and the highest court in the
land want to have it any way they decide to have it--there is never an
unkind word; they are thoughtful and professional, but there are numerous split
decisions and some with very vitriolic and demeaning language; decisions that stink with
White male conservative politics, but never is the court moved by
politics. The Florida presidential election decision was so confused and convoluted that only
politics, certainly not law, could have produced it.
Justice Anthony Scalia leads the politically
conservative charge and Clarence Thomas goes lock step with his
leadership. He is, as many suspect, Scalia's second vote. He says nothing
because Scalia makes all the comments. If there are never unkind words
toward him, it's because he goes with the flow and bends with the wind of
the decisions.
One thing physical science teaches us beyond its own properties is this: to move up or forward, one must exert a greater force that the force that holds it still. When that greater force is exerted, it produces tension and friction. That friction is comparable to the tension that is experience when one goes against popular opinion. There is an old expression that says, "Print the truth and let them howl."
Maybe Justice Thomas has not heard an unkind word because he hasn't stood for any truth that would make them howl. Too often he has gone along with Justice Scalia into Scalia's vortex of intellectual White male conservativeness.
But somewhere along the way, Justice Thomas has failed to see that all things are political, especially food. That blind spot may have hindered him from seeing that the court is a very political body, and its present politics is White male conservative politics. And he is doing nothing to change that paradigm--that is why George Bush Sr., placed him there.[]
