Clarence Thomas
Associate Justice since 1991 and the Court's longest-serving current member. He previously sat on the D.C. Circuit and chaired the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
- Role
- Associate Justice
- Joined the Court
- 1991 (appointed by George H. W. Bush)
- Martin–Quinn score
- 3.07 (latest term)
- Decisions participated in
- 2,667 (Spaeth, 1946–2025 span)
- Prior roles
- Judge, U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit; Chairman, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
How their votes have evolved, issue by issue
- Criminal procedure: 208 votes, 19% on the liberal side. Possible shift: more conservative relative to the Court, OT1991–OT2007 vs OT2008–OT2025.
- Federalism: 137 votes, 46% on the liberal side.
- Free speech & press: 126 votes, 31% on the liberal side.
- Voting & elections: 80 votes, 23% on the liberal side.
- Immigration: 73 votes, 18% on the liberal side.
- Executive & agency power: 61 votes, 49% on the liberal side.
- Death penalty: 54 votes, 6% on the liberal side.
- Religion: 38 votes, 34% on the liberal side.
- Guns & the Second Amendment: 26 votes, 38% on the liberal side.
- Race & affirmative action: 24 votes, 13% on the liberal side.
- Abortion & reproductive rights: 22 votes, 14% on the liberal side.
- Sexual orientation & gender identity: 11 votes, 0% on the liberal side.
Before the Court
As a lower-court judge on the D.C. Circuit (1990–1991), Thomas wrote 23 opinions we could find on CourtListener: 19 for the court, 3 concurring and 1 dissenting. Most often on: Executive & agency power (7), Criminal procedure (3), Free speech & press (1). Selected passages appear in the “In their own words” timelines on this page.
How they question at oral argument
Over OT2023–OT2025 (1,232 substantive questions and remarks), Thomas's questions most often probed the text (24%), the facts and record (19%), consequences and hypotheticals (18%). Themes are assigned by a language model (75% agreement with independent reference labels). Compare all nine Justices.
Public statements, writings & appearances
A curated, sourced timeline of 25 speeches, articles, interviews, and public statements — each with a summary and a link to the original source. The interactive version with filters and full-text search loads above.
- — Justice Clarence Thomas One-on-One (Part 2): precedent and constitutional interpretation (Verdict with Ted Cruz podcast (Conservative Partnership Institute))
In the second installment, Thomas explained his skepticism toward stare decisis with a plowing metaphor from his grandfather's farm, arguing that a wrongly decided precedent should be corrected rather than extended. He said the Court has 'over-intellectualized' the Constitution and that he doubts any ruling he could not explain to an ordinary person, and discussed constitutional interpretation, individual liberty, and the responsibility of a lifetime appointment.
What if that first row is crooked? Do you keep going, pretending that it's straight?
Topics: stare decisis, originalism, judicial role, civic education
- — Justice Clarence Thomas One-on-One (Part 1), Verdict with Ted Cruz (Verdict with Ted Cruz podcast (Conservative Partnership Institute))
In the first installment of a two-part interview released alongside Sen. Ted Cruz's biography of him, Thomas traced his upbringing in segregated Georgia, his grandfather's influence, seminary years and Yale Law School, and described how those experiences pushed him toward a constitutional outlook centered on individual responsibility and liberty. He also rejected the idea that race dictates political belief and thanked Cruz for defending him and his wife during ethics controversies, saying others 'seem to wither.'
only two things I have to do: stay Black and die
Topics: judicial role, civic education, court legitimacy, founding history
- — The Sowell Legacy: A Conversation with Justice Clarence Thomas and Peter Robinson (Hoover Institution, 'The Sowell Legacy' multimedia series (interviewer Peter Robinson))
In an episode of Hoover's Sowell Legacy series, Thomas recounted discovering Thomas Sowell's writing as a young lawyer and credited him with the intellectual independence to hold unpopular views on race and education, and pushed back on the claim that his politics make him less authentically Black. He also said some elite law schools, naming Stanford, are presumptively closed to conservatives like him; Stanford responded publicly that it would be honored to host him.
Topics: black conservatism, intellectual independence, race, legal education, law school orthodoxy
- — Conversation at the Eleventh Circuit Judicial Conference (Eleventh Circuit Judicial Conference, Aventura, Florida (in conversation with former clerk and district-court nominee Kasdin Mitchell))
Thomas said personal friendships among the justices were 'much, much deeper' on the Court he joined in 1991 than on today's bench, though he described current relationships as different rather than negative. He also praised the post-COVID round-robin questioning format for guaranteeing each justice a chance to speak, and said Americans still share the ideals set out in the Declaration of Independence.
it's a different court now
Topics: collegiality, court dynamics, oral argument, founding history
- — Remarks on the 250th Anniversary of the Declaration of Independence (Hogg Memorial Auditorium, University of Texas at Austin (Q&A moderated by Provost William Inboden))
In an hour-long lecture marking the Declaration's 250th anniversary, Thomas described its claim of God-given, inalienable rights as a lived inheritance he absorbed growing up under segregation, and contrasted that account of natural rights with twentieth-century progressivism, which he said treats rights as grants of government. He closed by urging students toward the personal courage embodied in the Declaration's final pledge and toward restoring civic education.
What changed the world was not the words, but the commitment and spirit of the people.
Topics: natural law, founding history, civic education, individual liberty, constitutional interpretation
- — Remarks to the J. Reuben Clark Law Society Annual Conference (J. Reuben Clark Law Society Annual Conference ('Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness'), American University Washington College of Law, Washington, D.C.)
Thomas told the Law Society's annual conference that lawyers of differing political and religious convictions can work together in good faith, summarizing the point as 'it takes all kinds to make a world.' Contemporaneous reporting noted he participated remotely rather than in person because of security concerns.
it takes all kinds to make a world
Topics: civility, legal profession, judicial security
- — Fireside Chat with Justice Clarence Thomas (with Prof. Haley Proctor) (Notre Dame Law Review symposium 'The Declaration of Independence and the Constitution,' Notre Dame Law School)
Closing the Law Review's Declaration of Independence symposium, Thomas repeated his train metaphor for precedent — each car must be understood before another is added — and said his judicial oath 'would be impossible' to keep without faith, while urging civility in disagreement.
I think these hard jobs would be impossible to do without faith.
Topics: precedent, religious liberty, judicial role
- — Like Water in the Desert: What Thomas Sowell Means to Justice Clarence Thomas (with Peter Robinson) (The Sowell Legacy Conference, Hoover Institution, Stanford University)
At Hoover's conference honoring Thomas Sowell, Thomas described how Sowell's empirical, contrarian writing gave him the confidence as a young Black lawyer to form and defend his own views against what others expected him to think.
Here's someone who's thought it through and makes sense of what your instinct has been
Topics: intellectual independence, judicial role
- — A Conversation with Justice Clarence Thomas (with Prof. Jennifer Mascott) (Center for the Constitution and the Catholic Intellectual Tradition, Columbus School of Law, Catholic University of America)
In conversation with former clerk Jennifer Mascott, Thomas criticized 'talismanic' invocation of stare decisis as letting judges 'turn off the brain,' analogizing precedent to cars on a train that must each be examined, and grounded legitimate judging in constitutional text rather than personal preference.
If Z is totally stupid and that's what they've decided, you don't go along with it
Topics: stare decisis, precedent, originalism, judicial role
- — Remarks at the 11th Circuit Judicial Conference (U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit judicial conference, Point Clear, Alabama)
In an onstage conversation at the 11th Circuit's judicial conference, Thomas said he and his wife had endured years of 'nastiness' and 'lies' from critics and described Washington as a place where people 'pride themselves on being awful.'
just the nastiness and the lies, it's just incredible
Topics: judicial ethics, media criticism, washington culture, court legitimacy
- — Public statement on undisclosed travel funded by Harlan Crow (Written statement issued via the Supreme Court, reported by the Associated Press)
Responding to ProPublica's reporting on luxury trips funded by Harlan Crow, Thomas issued a statement calling the Crows dear friends and saying he had been advised that such personal hospitality from close friends without business before the Court was not reportable.
this sort of personal hospitality from close personal friends ... was not reportable
Topics: judicial ethics, financial disclosure, harlan crow, recusal and ethics debate
- — Remarks on the Dobbs draft leak at the Old Parkland Conference (Old Parkland Conference, Dallas, Texas (conversation with John Yoo))
Days after the Dobbs draft opinion leaked, Thomas told a Dallas conference that the leak was a breach of trust that fundamentally and irreparably changed the Supreme Court as an institution, likening it to an infidelity.
When you lose that trust ... it changes the institution fundamentally.
Topics: dobbs leak, court legitimacy, institutional trust, abortion
- — 2021 Tocqueville Lecture (University of Notre Dame, Center for Citizenship and Constitutional Government)
Delivering Notre Dame's Tocqueville Lecture, Thomas reflected on his upbringing in the segregated South and his faith, defended the Court's independence against charges of partisanship, and cautioned against asking judges to act as policymakers.
Topics: judicial independence, faith, patriotism, court legitimacy, judicial role
- — Created Equal: Clarence Thomas in His Own Words (documentary) (PBS broadcast; Manifold Productions (dir. Michael Pack))
A feature documentary built from more than 30 hours of interviews with Thomas and his wife Virginia, tracing his path from Pin Point, Georgia through 1960s radicalism to conservatism, the 1991 hearings, and his years on the Court.
Topics: documentary, biography, race, confirmation hearings, judicial philosophy
- — Freedom and Obligation (Hillsdale College commencement address) (Hillsdale College, published in Imprimis (May/June 2016))
In his 2016 Hillsdale commencement address, Thomas paid tribute to the recently deceased Justice Scalia, described himself as unapologetically Catholic, patriotic, and constitutionalist, and argued that liberty depends on discharging obligations rather than claiming entitlements.
Topics: citizenship, duty, faith, patriotism, scalia tribute
- — Conversation with Dean Martha Minow (Herbert W. Vaughan Lecture series) (Harvard Law School)
In a public conversation at Harvard Law School, Thomas discussed his upbringing, his view that a judge's role is distinct from that of a citizen or activist, his admiration for Harlan's Plessy dissent, and his dislike of justices interrupting at oral argument.
Do well. Do well so you can be in a position to do good.
Topics: judicial role, oral argument, legal education, biography
- — Judging in a Government by Consent (Wriston Lecture) (Manhattan Institute, New York)
In the Manhattan Institute's 2008 Wriston Lecture, Thomas argued that the framers designed government to limit its own powers by popular consent and that judges must discern the framers' meaning rather than impose personal preferences.
only two ways to interpret the Constitution ... what the framers intended or make it up
Topics: originalism, consent of the governed, limited government, judicial restraint
- — My Grandfather's Son: A Memoir (Harper (HarperCollins))
Thomas's memoir traces his life from poverty in Pin Point, Georgia and his grandfather's discipline through Yale Law School, the EEOC, and the 1991 confirmation fight, which he recounts as a politically motivated ordeal.
Topics: memoir, segregation, confirmation hearings, faith, self reliance
- — 60 Minutes: The Justice Nobody Knows (interview with Steve Kroft) (CBS News, 60 Minutes)
In his first major television interview, timed to his memoir's release, Thomas discussed his Georgia upbringing, his grandfather's influence, and his view that the real issue underlying his 1991 confirmation fight was abortion.
Old Man Can't is dead. I helped bury him.
Topics: memoir, confirmation hearings, abortion, race, affirmative action
- — Be Not Afraid (Francis Boyer Lecture) (American Enterprise Institute Annual Dinner, Washington, D.C.)
Accepting AEI's Francis Boyer Award, Thomas argued that judges should adopt interpretive methods that reduce judicial discretion and urged citizens not to be intimidated out of defending unpopular principles, distinguishing civility from capitulation.
Be not afraid to follow them wherever they may lead you.
Topics: originalism, judicial courage, civility, public discourse, judicial restraint
- — Speech to the National Bar Association (National Bar Association annual convention, Memphis, Tennessee)
Speaking to the largely Black lawyers' association that had debated disinviting him, Thomas defended his right to hold conservative views without being deemed a traitor to his race and rejected the idea that ideology should be racially assigned.
I refuse to have my ideas assigned to me as though I was an intellectual slave
Topics: race, black conservatism, intellectual independence, judicial role
- — Second-round confirmation testimony responding to Anita Hill's allegations (U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary (S. Hrg. 102-1084, Part 4))
In the reopened October 11-13, 1991 hearings, Thomas categorically denied Anita Hill's allegations and denounced the proceedings as a racially charged attack on him, in the exchange containing his 'high-tech lynching' statement.
a high-tech lynching for uppity blacks
Topics: confirmation hearings, anita hill, race, sexual harassment allegations
- — Confirmation hearing testimony, Senate Judiciary Committee (first round) (U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary (S. Hrg. 102-1084, Part 1))
Over five days of testimony (September 10-16, 1991), Thomas characterized his earlier natural-law writings as political philosophy rather than a method of constitutional adjudication, discussed stare decisis, and declined to state a position on Roe v. Wade.
Topics: confirmation hearings, natural law, stare decisis, roe v wade, judicial philosophy
- — Why Black Americans Should Look to Conservative Policies (The Heritage Foundation, Washington, D.C.)
As EEOC chairman, Thomas recounted his upbringing under state-enforced segregation in a strict, self-reliant household and argued that Black Americans' interests are better served by conservative principles of family, discipline, and limited government than by liberal social policy.
Unlike today, we debated no one about our way of life--we lived it.
Topics: black conservatism, race, self reliance, welfare policy, eeoc years
- — Affirmative Action Goals and Timetables: Too Tough? Not Tough Enough! (Yale Law & Policy Review, vol. 5, no. 2)
Writing as EEOC chairman after the Supreme Court approved race- and sex-conscious hiring goals, Thomas argues that goals and timetables are a marginal tool that will not end employment discrimination, and that vigorous enforcement of individual claims matters more.
Goals and timetables ... have become a sideshow in the war on discrimination.
Topics: affirmative action, employment discrimination, eeoc years, civil rights enforcement