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The right to think for one's self
Today, In the " Opinion Journal", Eugene Volokh wrote an interesting piece regarding the book, " The Nine: Inside the Secret World of the Supreme Court". What struck me as very profound, and what I wanted to share, was the concept of the right to think for one's self. That is have your opinion, come to your own conclusions, and decide issues independently.
Justice Clarence Thomas is the focus for the book's criticism. Because he is black yet does not hold the opinion that racial preferences are valid, Thomas is considered a traitor, an Uncle Tom, or an Oreo [black on the outside, white in the inside]. Here is a direct quote from Justice Thomas that struck me as extremely profound:
Quote:
I've found during my almost 20 years in Washington that the tendency to personalize differences has grown to be an accepted way of doing business. One need not do the hard work of dissecting an argument. One need only attack and thus discredit the person making the argument. Though the matter being debated is not effectively resolved, the debate is reduced to unilateral pronouncements and glib but quotable clichés.
I for one have been singled out for particularly bilious and venomous assaults. These criticisms, as near as I can tell, and I admit that it is rare that I take notice of this calamity—have little to do with any particular opinion, though each opinion does provide one more occasion to criticize. Rather, the principle problem seems to be a deeper antecedent offense. I have no right to think the way I do because I'm black.
Though the ideas and opinions themselves are not necessarily illegitimate, they're held by non-black individuals, they and the person enunciating them are illegitimate if that person happens to be black, thus, there's a subset of criticism that must of necessity be reserved for me--even if every non-black member of the court agrees with the idea or the opinion. You see, they are exempt from this kind of criticism precisely because they are not black.
It pains me deeply—more deeply than any of you can imagine—to be perceived by so many members of my race as doing them harm, all the sacrifice, all the long hours of preparation were to help, not to hurt. But what hurts more, much more, is the amount of time and attention spent on manufactured controversies and media side shows when so many problems cry out for constructive attention.
I have come here today not in anger or to anger, though my mere presence has been sufficient, obviously, to anger some, nor have I come to defend my views, but rather to assert my right to think for myself, to refuse to have my ideas assigned to me, as though I was an intellectual slave.
Justice Clarence Thomas as reported by PBS, in a speech to the American Bar Association, July 29, 1998.
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When I read this I was thunderstruck. It is a racist view that African-Americans should side with minorities because they are black. And it is definitely a racist view that if you don't side with minorities you are racist. Here is a snippet of an article I found in "Flagpole Magazine" that rants about the decisions of Justice Thomas:
Quote:
Thurgood Marshall advanced and glorified individual rights; Clarence Thomas retards and debases them. Justice Marshall, one scholar tells us, was known “for a steadfast belief in the Constitution as the pillar of democratic and egalitarian principles and in law generally as the protector of the poor and powerless.” Justice Thomas, on the other hand, rejects that belief as sentimental claptrap. Imagine everything Justice Marshall was, and you have imagined what Justice Thomas is not. You know, one of the biggest misrepresentations I ever heard was when one of Justice Thomas’s law clerks–and they, I should add, are major components of his claque–told a reporter that Thomas’s decisions “are absolutely consistent with Justice Marshall.” No wonder Thomas’s claque regards all criticism of Thomas as incomprehensibly base.
Second, it must never be forgotten that not only does Justice Thomas systematically turn his back on individuals (and especially minorities, the poor, the powerless, the weak, the oppressed, and prisoners, including death row inmates), who seek redress in the courts for violations of their rights, but he sometimes rejects their claims scornfully and mockingly. In certain of his anti-human rights judicial opinions there is a harshness of tone, a sarcastic meanness, an aggressive coldness that is alarming to non-Social Darwinists. Quite apart from his ideological defects, Justice Thomas lacks the temperament to be a judge. And this is part of the reason The New York Times labeled him “cruel.”
Third, despite becoming a Justice, Clarence Thomas has continued to act like a partisan Republican. His scandalous participation in Bush v. Gore in which he and four other Republican justices first stopped an ongoing vote recount and then barred any further recounts, thereby handing the presidency to the Republican candidate, is fully discussed in my Open Letter. Thomas’s unparalleled conduct shortly after his Senate confirmation provides another example of his political partisanship. To quote one law review article discussing the matter, “After he was confirmed, Thomas reportedly acted like a politician in showing his appreciation to conservative groups, including anti-abortion groups, for supporting him. . . . Like a victorious candidate, Thomas paid a round of thank-you calls to the conservative groups that helped him win confirmation.” [19 Seattle U. L. Rev. 455, 496 (1996)]
Embarrassing Justice, Flagpole Magazine, May 28, 2003
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The notion that your race, background, upbringing, education, or anything else trumps the responsibility to judge an issue based on facts and the law makes me sick. It is exactly what is wrong with our judicial system today. Race pimps like Al Sharpton and Jessie Jackson obfuscate their real intentions with rhetoric extolling "social justice". What they really demand is a judicial system that can be swayed based on politic correctness. And the fact that Justice Thomas can stand up to their shrill criticism, makes me think there is hope.
Richard J.
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09-27-2007
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