An Angry Justice Thomas Targets Liberal Groups

Posted Oct 1, 2007 7:37 AM CST
By Debra Cassens Weiss

Justice Clarence Thomas calls his sexual harassment accuser a mediocre lawyer and “my most traitorous adversary” in his new memoir, My Grandfather’s Son.

Thomas denies the harassment claims and says accuser Anita Hill, who once worked for him, was "touchy and apt to overreact" anytime someone did something to offend her, the Washington Post reports. He said she would have quickly objected if she did not like Thomas’ treatment of her rather than waiting for a decade to detail her complaints.

The conservative Thomas concludes that the abortion issue was the driving force behind Hill’s accusations, aired during his confirmation hearings, the New York Times reports. His language is most vivid when writing about the issue.

He said he had grown up in fear of Ku Klux Klan lynch mobs, but “my worst fears had come to pass not in Georgia, but in Washington, D.C., where I was being pursued not by bigots in white robes but by left-wing zealots draped in flowing sanctimony.”

The Post quotes more passages showing Thomas’ outrage over the liberal campaign against his nomination. "The mob I now faced carried no ropes or guns," Thomas said. "Its weapons were smooth-tongued lies spoken into microphones and printed on the front pages of America's newspapers. ... But it was a mob all the same, and its purpose—to keep the black man in his place—was unchanged."

Thomas also wrote that he had once thought “fleetingly thought” about suicide after his grandparents' deaths during a rocky period in his first marriage. But he pushed aside the idea because he did not want to abandon his son as he had been abandoned by his father. Thomas was raised by his grandparents.

ABC News' Jan Crawford Greenburg and 60 Minutes' Steve Kroft have both interviewed Thomas.

In the 60 Minutes interview, Thomas explained why he does not try to correct misconceptions that he is an intellectual lightweight whose insecurities are the reason he does not ask questions during oral arguments.

"My job is to write opinions. I decide cases and write opinions. It is not to respond to idiocy and critics who make statements that are unfounded," he said.

Thomas’ book goes on sale today. A hat tip to How Appealing, which posted the stories.

Comments

Gregg Peppel
Oct 5, 2007 7:12 AM CST

The caption of this story is misleading and wholly irresponsible. Justice Thomas has not “targeted” any “group.” He has defended himself from unproven accusations consistently over the years, and his book continues to do so.

You could have captioned the article “Justice Thomas Criticizes Liberal Opponents.” That would have been both fair and accurate. But you, as others before you, have now painted Justice Thomas as biased against liberal groups, and in doing so you raise questions of his credibilty. That is unfair. I expect better from the ABA.

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An Angry Justice Thomas Targets Liberal Groups

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