Clarence Thomas
Clarence Thomas
Position:
Associate Justice
Judicial Offices:
President George Bush appointed Thomas to the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit; he took the oath of office on March 12, 1990.
Clarence Thomas was nominated by President Bush as Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court; the Senate confirmed the appointment on October 15, 1991 by a 52-48 vote. Clarence Thomas was sworn into office on October 23, 1991.
Family:
Clarence Thomas was born June 28, 1948 in the Pin Point, near Savannah, Georgia. The second child of M.C. Thomas and Leola Williams; he grew up with his grandmother in Savannah. He married Virginia Lamp in 1987, and has one child, Jamal Adeen, from a previous marriage.
Education:
St. John Vianney Minor Conception Seminary, 1967-1968:
At Holy Cross College, he graduated ninth in his class with an A.B. in English, cum laude in 1971. He was a member of Alpha Sigma Nu and the Purple Key Society.
At Yale Law School, he received his J.D. in 1974.
Law Practice:
Thomas was admitted to the Missouri Bar in 1974 and later became an Attorney in the pesticide and agriculture division of the Monsanto Company, 1977-1979.
Government Service:
Thomas served as assistant Attorney General of Missouri (1974-77), Legislative assistant to Senator John C. Danforth of Missouri (1979-81), Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights in the U.S. Department of Education (1981-82), and Chairman for the U. S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (1982-90).
Other appointments and duties:
In 1982, he was named Chairman of the United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and served in that capacity until 1990.
Literature:
Commencement Address: Syracuse University College of Law (1991)
More Biographical Information:
- Book Review of Clarence Thomas by Andrew Peyton Thomas By Elaine Cassel.
- Clarence Thomas From the Oyez Project (Northwestern University).
- Clarence Thomas From the Supreme Court History Society.
- From Poverty to the Bench: Clarence Thomas From the New York Times. (Registration Required)
- "I am a Man, a Black Man, an American" From Douglass: Archives of American Public Address. Features the text of Clarence Thomas's speech given at the annual meeting of the National Bar Association, an organization representing African American attorneys and judges.
- Judges of the United States Courts From the Federal Judicial Center
- Justice Thomas From the Legal Information Institute (Cornell University).
- News Analysis: Etching a Portrait of Judge Thomas From the New York Times. (Registration Required)
- News Analysis: Spectacle of Degradation From the New York Times. (Registration Required)
- The Justices of the Supreme Court From the U.S. Supreme Court. In Adobe PDF format.
- Thomas Accuser Tells Hearing of Obscene Talk; Judge Complains of 'Lynching' From the New York Times. (Registration Required)