Thomas, Clarence (redirected from Clarence Thomas)

Thomas, Clarence, 1948–, associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court (1991–), b. Pin Point (Savannah), Ga. Raised in a poor family, he graduated (1974) from the Yale Law School and became a prominent black conservative active in Republican causes. He chaired the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (1982–90) during the Reagan and Bush administrations, and attempted there to modify the application of federal affirmative action guidelines. In 1990 he was appointed a judge on the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. In July, 1991, President George H. W. Bush nominated Thomas to the Supreme Court, to replace Thurgood Marshall. In Oct., 1991, when approval was all but assured, the Senate Judiciary Committee reopened confirmation hearings to examine charges by Anita Hill, a Univ. of Oklahoma law professor, that Thomas had subjected her to sexual harassment while she was an EEOC employee in the 1980s. Testimony and debate on the charges, followed by a nationwide television audience and revealing deep divisions among the public, did not in the end change the committee's recommendation for approval, and Thomas was confirmed by a full Senate vote of 52 to 48. Taking his seat, he aligned himself with Antonin Scalia, forming the Court's most conservative grouping.

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Thomas, Clarence

(born June 23, 1948, Pinpoint, near Savannah, Ga., U.S.) U.S. jurist. He graduated from Yale Law School and served as assistant attorney general in Missouri (1974–77), lawyer for Monsanto Co. (1977–79), legislative assistant to Sen. John Danforth (1979–81), assistant secretary in the U.S. Department of Education (1981–82), and chairman of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) (1982–90). Pres. George Bush appointed him to the U.S. Court of Appeals in 1990 and then to the Supreme Court of the United States; he thereby became the second African American justice on the court, after Thurgood Marshall. His 1991 confirmation hearings attracted enormous public interest and media attention, largely because of accusations of sexual harassment by Anita Hill, a law professor and former colleague of Thomas at the EEOC. Thomas denied the charges, and the Senate narrowly voted to confirm him. A quiet presence on the court, he generally follows a predictable pattern in his opinions—conservative, restrained, and suspicious of the reach of the federal government into the realm of state and local politics.

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Thomas, Clarence (1948–  ) Supreme Court justice; born in Pin Point, Ga. Shaped by his poor-but-proud family and his Catholic schooling, he went on to graduate from Holy Cross College and Yale Law School and to espouse conservative views on the situation of his fellow African-Americans. He worked as assistant secretary of education (1981) and then headed the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (1981–89). President Bush appointed him to the federal court of appeals (1990–91) and to the U.S. Supreme Court, where, only after a highly controversial Senate hearing and vote, did he become the second African-American to take a seat (1991).