Objectively, President Obama and Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas are two of the "highest ranking" professional black men in the United States. They have much in common, but have barely spoken a word to one other. The divide between them is puzzling. This is not to say that all black men should be friends, or all black law school graduates should be friends, because the issue goes much deeper than that.
The question is why don't they get along? It can't be purely because of ideological differences.
Both men were raised by their grandparents and had absent fathers.
Both men went to Ivy League Law schools. President Obama attended Harvard. Justice Thomas attended Yale.
Both men chose a life of public service where their annual salaries are nothing compared to what they could have made as corporate attorneys following President Obama's time as Harvard Law Review Editor-in-Chief or Justice Thomas' time on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia.
Remember in 2008 when then-Senator Obama said he never would have nominated Clarence Thomas. Except, the Senator expanded upon that statement to tell the world that he did not think Clarence Thomas was smart enough to be a Supreme Court Justice.
During a recent speech, Justice Thomas admitted that he and Obama have hardly spoken a word to each other. It seems their only contact was a handshake at one of the President's inaugurations. Justice Thomas made another jab at the President, saying that knew the first black president would have to be approved by the liberal elites.
The back and forth comments are sophomoric (pretentious or juvenile). At this point in their careers, both men are essentially professional equals with one sitting in the highest elected office in the United States and the other holding one of the highest positions for a professional jurist. Because Justice Thomas is an Associate Justice, rather than the Chief Justice, he could arguably obtain one higher peg in the Supreme Court Justice ladder. That being said, there is no need for the in-fighting.
These men need to show each other respect. By that, they don't need to become friends, but they need to be respectful to the offices they both hold. There are ways to respectively criticize and we don't often see examples of such good behavior. President Obama and Clarence Thomas have an opportunity to peacefully co-exist.
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He speaks.
Well, sort of.
Clarence Thomas, who is not known for his loquacious presence on the Supreme Court, finally opened his mouth. During oral arguments on January 14, 2013, the Supreme Court Justice made a comment about attorneys trained at either his alma mater Yale Law School or Harvard Law. It appears the court reporter could not decipher his comments due to the cross-talking by the other justices. The transcript revealed that there was laughter in response of Thomas' comment.
Apparently, he is a joker.
Thomas made his comments during a line of questioning about the the qualifications of the attorneys representing a Louisiana man in a murder case. Two of the attorneys attended Harvard and Yale law schools. Check out the transcript:
JUSTICE SCALIA: She was a graduate of Yale law school, wasn't she?
MS. SIGLER: She's a very impressive attorney.
JUSTICE SCALIA: And another of his counsel, Mr. Singer -- of the three that he had -- he was a graduate of Harvard law school, wasn't he?
MS. SIGLER: Yes, Your Honor.
JUSTICE SCALIA: Son of a gun.
JUSTICE THOMAS: Well -- he did not -
(Laughter.)
MS. SIGLER: I would refute that, Justice Thomas.
JUSTICE SOTOMAYOR: Counsel, do you want to define constitutionally adequate counsel? Is it anybody who's graduated from Harvard and Yale?
(Laughter.)
JUSTICE SOTOMAYOR: Or even just passed the Bar?
MS. SIGLER: Or LSU law.
JUSTICE SOTOMAYOR: I would think -- no, no, no.
It seems that Thomas made a gibe about the attorneys' ivy league educations. In his book, "My Grandfather's Son," Thomas wrote that he placed a 15 cent price sticker on his Yale Law School degree and stored it in the basement. All of the Supreme Court justices have graduated from either Harvard or Yale.
The last time Justice Thomas posed a question to an attorney during oral arguments was on February 22, 2006.
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Elena Kagan told a group of law students at the University of Tennessee that she did not think President Obama would have appointed her as a Supreme Court Justice if she were not a woman.
And to tell you the truth, there were also things that I got because I was a woman. I mean I'm not sure I'd be sitting here.--Elena Kagan
Besides being a woman, Kagan is a graduate of Princeton, Oxford, and a magna cum laude graduate of Harvard Law School. She clerked for Judge Abner J. Mikva of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit and Justice Thurgood Marshall.
She was a tenured professor at the University of Chicago Law School and a published author on First Amendment protections. She served as the first woman Solicitor General of the United States. Somehow, Kagan also found the time to serve as the Dean of Harvard Law School.
Those credentials don't seem too bad. And unlike Clarence Thomas, there was no mention of her placing a pubic hair on a colleague's Coke during her Supreme Court confirmation process.
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