Justice Thomas Illustrates His Constitutional Philosophy With a Coat Hanger

U.S. Supreme Court

Justice Thomas Illustrates His Constitutional Philosophy With a Coat Hanger

Posted Mar 24, 2008, 07:36 am CDT
By Debra Cassens Weiss

Justice Clarence Thomas doesn’t believe it’s his job to compensate for years of misinterpretation by reinterpreting the Constitution in a distorted way.

He illustrated with a coat hanger in an interview with two former Justice Department officials who wrote a commentary for the Wall Street Journal. Thomas bent the coat hanger one way, and then another to compensate. The hanger ended up so twisted it was useless for hanging clothes. Thomas thinks the illustration is apt for his work on the court.

“I don't do things that I think are illegitimate in other areas, just to bend it back to compensate for what's already happened," he told the authors, David Rivkin and Lee Casey. “I don't feel I have any particular right to put my gloss on your Constitution. My job is simply to interpret it."

Thomas believes he has to construct a firewall between his personal views and the way he interprets the Constitution. He says it’s his job “to choose to interpret this document as carefully and as accurately and as legitimately as I can, versus inflicting my personal opinion or imposing my personal opinion on the rest of the country."

The authors also asked Thomas why he keeps quiet during oral arguments. Thomas says he gets his questions answered in the thorough briefs that are presented to the court.

"This is my 17th term, and I haven't found it necessary to ask a bunch of questions,” he told the authors. “I would be doing it to satisfy other people, not to do my job. Most of the answers are in the briefs. This isn't Perry Mason."

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Posted by Ray - 3 months, 3 weeks, 5 days, 21 hours, 56 minutes ago

It is unfortunate that some one who would be appropriately outraged if a hood or noose were used as an example would not be sensitive to the fact that his vote could be the one that puts women back into alleys and coat hanger abortions would use that tool as an example.
Posted by Neil - 3 months, 3 weeks, 5 days, 1 hour, 34 minutes ago

It is ironic that Thomas does not see the constitution as a living document - certainly his predecessors did - otherwise he would be picking cotton today.
Posted by Suasponte - 3 months, 3 weeks, 3 days, 20 hours, 58 minutes ago

Hmmmmm. When I saw the banner for this story, I thought it might be about Thomas discussing abortion.

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