Clarence Thomas: From 'Black Panther Type' To Supreme Court's Conservative Beacon
On the U.S. Supreme Court, where nine justices often disagree but try to meld their views into majority decisions, one justice stands out.
Clarence Thomas, the longest-serving member of the current court — and its only African American — has views that perhaps can only be described as unique.
Some court watchers, however, use other terms: idiosyncratic, eccentric, provocative, thoughtful, and yes, wacky.
"He's gone through all sorts of different ideologies in his life," observes Yale law professor Akhil Amar. "In law school, he was a Black Panther type, a black power extremist of a certain sort. Now, he defines the right wing of the United States Supreme Court."
As he has in the past, Thomas this term has charted a course that is, at times, breathtakingly different from his colleagues. While he wrote eight majority opinions for the
