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View Full Version : Real Liberty Ends Ideological Segregation, Justice Thomas Says




Bradley in DC
10-24-2007, 10:42 AM
http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewCulture.asp?Page=/Culture/archive/200710/CUL20071024a.html

Real Liberty Ends Ideological Segregation, Justice Thomas Says
By Kevin Mooney
CNSNews.com Staff Writer
October 24, 2007

(CNSNews.com) - Relish the challenge that comes with defending freedom. Stop whining about unfortunate circumstances. Read the Constitution before pontificating about it. And reason with your mind to break free of ideological segregation. These are some of the recommendations Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas gave at a luncheon last week in his honor in New York City.

More than 800 people attended the event co-sponsored by the Federalist Society and the Heritage Foundation, both conservative organizations. Thomas was there to discuss his new book, "My Grandfather's Son," and he fielded questions about his tenure on the Supreme Court and his judicial outlook.

"Throughout this book, I tried to be honest about the struggles along life's path," Thomas said.

"It is my sincere hope this book will show just how much we are all alike ... In addition, it is my enduring hope that someday, someone who is still struggling and uncertain about the future, will find reason for hope in the words I've written and the life I've tried to live," he added.

Americans who have the opportunity to "stand up for great principles" should celebrate their special station in life and not complain about adversity in their daily routine, Thomas said.

"Do you look at a beautiful day and say, 'What a great day for whining, what a great day to not accomplish anything?'" said Thomas.

As the political battles intensified during his time as chairman of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) in the 1980s, Thomas rediscovered his Catholic faith and turned to Jesus with greater frequency, he writes in the book.

His religious convictions played a major role in his ability to endure the grueling confirmation battle over his appointment to the Supreme Court in 1991, former Sen. John Danforth (R-Mo.) said in an interview with Cybercast News Service.

Anita Hill, who worked as one of Thomas's employees at the EEOC, accused him of sexual harassment while testifying against him before the U.S. Senate.

"He could not have made it through without his faith," Danforth said. "It was just an awful, awful, awful ordeal to go through, and it was enough to destroy most people. There was a lot of prayer in my office and at his home."

In turning to scripture, Thomas discovered that he was allowing his own pride to get in the way of offering up a forceful response to his opponents in the Senate, their allies in the media, and the pressure groups trying to smear him, the book details.

"It occurred to me that I had cherished my good name in the same way that a wealthy man cherishes his money," Thomas wrote.

"I remembered how Jesus had told the rich man to give away his fortune and 'come and follow me.'" For solace and strength Thomas turned to the "Litany of Humility" and asked Jesus to deliver him "from the fear of being despised" and "from the fear of suffering rebukes."

Later, when he joined the court, Thomas remained mindful of those scriptural lessons and frequently told his law clerks, "I took an Oath to God, not an Oath to be God."

The U.S. Senate has a "results-oriented approach" to the Supreme Court that works against independent thinkers like Thomas, who open themselves to ideas that may be out of favor with prevailing opinion, said Danforth.

"There is this idea that says, if you don't agree with someone, you then destroy him as a person, and this was evident during the Thomas hearings," he said. "Why should African-Americans be expected to hue to one particular ideology, why shouldn't they have as much freedom to express different viewpoints as anyone else?"

This same question is extensively probed in the memoir. Thomas sees an essential link between individual liberty and the ability to think and reason independently.

"How could a black man be truly free if he felt obliged to act in a certain way - and how was that any different from being forced to live under segregation?" he asks in the memoir. "How could blacks hope to solve their problems if they weren't willing to tell the truth about what they thought, no matter how unpopular it might be?"

While fielding questions from audience members at the luncheon, Thomas stressed the importance of individuality. Those critics who objected to his contrarian views were unsettled, said Thomas, because from their perspective he was "drinking from the wrong water fountain of knowledge."

This point was not lost on Dorothy Pashley, president of the Federalist Society student chapter at Rutgers Law School in New Jersey. Although conservative and libertarian ideas are not in wide circulation on her campus, there is an appetite among some students to at least entertain alternative views, she told Cybercast News Service.

"I appreciated Justice Thomas's comment about how there is now this idea that says certain individuals should not be permitted to drink from 'a fountain of knowledge' that is considered off limits," Pashley said. "There is not a physical manifestation of this practice like there was before, but it is happening in an intellectual way."