Why Does Anyone Care If Clarence Thomas Is Nice? He’s Still Taking Away Your Basic Rights

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(Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

For a Supreme Court justice who’s notoriously tight lipped, Clarence Thomas has sure been in the news a lot. His wife, Ginni, is staring down a January 6th committee subpoena. Plus, you know, despite this seemingly obvious conflict of interest, there the Supreme Court justice was, issuing dissents in cases about the January 6th committee. All before he voted with the majority in Dobbs decimating reproductive freedom. But OF COURSE he went a step further in his separate concurrence arguing, “we should reconsider all of this Court’s substantive due process precedents, including Griswold, Lawrence, and Obergefell.”

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Ugh, gross.

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But there are those who’d like us to forget our horror at his jurisprudence and focus on what a nice guy he *really* is, as a former Thomas clerk told Insider:

Stephen McAllister, a US Attorney for the District of Kansas from 2018 to 2021, clerked for Thomas from October 1991 to January 1992.

“As a person, I think he’s absolutely wonderful, but he will be judged for what he does as a justice,” McAllister told Insider

…

“I’m not saying I agree with everything that he believes or does, but as a person, he’s very genuine, warm, actually humble, and sincere and cares a lot about people actually as individuals, ” McAllister said.

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“I’m not saying I agree with everything that he believes or does,” but you *are* willing to tell a major publication how “genuine, warm, actually humble, and sincere” Thomas is? LOL. Okay.

He continues to note that Thomas has been consistent in his jurisprudence, which I guess we’re supposed to believe is somehow a virtue?

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“He has a view of the Constitution, but it’s been consistent,” he said. “I mean, he’s been that way from the beginning, so there’s no surprises.”

Since his appointment to the court by President George H.W. Bush, Thomas has carried relatively the same beliefs. McAllister argued that Thomas makes his decisions on the Court through an “originalist” lens — meaning he believes that the Constitution should be taken as it was written.

“He thinks the court’s gone down the wrong analytical path since basically the early 1870s,” McAllister told Insider.

But watch McAllister pedal away from Thomas’s opinions to bring the focus back on this nebulous niceness:

Opinions aside, McAllister said his former boss was “not too high and mighty” and knew the custodians and cafeteria staff that other justices may have ignored.

“He’s a wonderful man and person and I think probably everybody who’s worked with him would tell you that he’s an extremely personable, down-to-earth earth human,” he said.

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Opinions aside? OPINIONS ASIDE?? That’s the goddamn job, people. Being nice is not a qualification for the Supreme Court. This PR blitz of trying to convince Americans that the folks TAKING AWAY OUR RIGHTS are actually nice people in their “real” life is UTTER BULLSHIT. Want a dose of fucking reality? There’s a 10-year-old child in Ohio who had to cross state lines to get abortion care so that she wouldn’t be forced to birth a child. Betcha she doesn’t care how “personable” Thomas is.

Why are media outlets fixated on the personalities of Supreme Court justices? Excuse me for being literal, but I don’t believe Thomas “cares about people actually as individuals” when he’s willing to sacrifice the well-being of so damn many people on the alter of originalism. How much human sacrifice can this deity possibly need? And — side note — are there no Sondheim fans anymore? “You’re not good, you’re not bad, you’re just nice” is an INSULT people.

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I’ve said it before, but seriously give me a raging asshole willing to stand in the breach against the worst impulses of the majority over some milquetoast “nice” justice who smiles while stripping people of their rights. Someone who knows the names of people he works with but is committed to the erosion of rights that inflict pain and suffering on the most vulnerable in society is worthless. No, it’s worse that worthless — it paints a banal smile on a political agenda that should horrify us.

Kathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, host of The Jabot podcast, and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter (@Kathryn1).

Topics

Clarence Thomas, Clerks, SCOTUS, SCOTUS Clerks, Stephen McAllister, Supreme Court