Clarence Thomas, the associate justice of the United States Supreme Court, will speak at SMU’s distinguished Tate Lecture Series on Sept. 30 to share with the SMU and Dallas community his experiences and thoughts from serving on the U.S. Supreme Court.
From presidents to prize-winning authors and from actors to eminent scientists and business leaders, SMU’s Willis M. Tate lecture series has been bringing in speakers from around the world to share their unique experiences with the Dallas community for 28 years.
“This particular lecture should be quite intriguing due to Thomas’ unique position as a minority on the Supreme Court, especially with all the recent turmoil surrounding the nomination and confirmation of Justice Sonia Sotomayor,” said Dane Brennan, SMU’s student foundation Tate Lecture Series chair.
Thomas became a judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in 1990, and after being nominated by President George H.W. Bush, Thomas took his seat in the Supreme Court on Oct. 23, 1991.
As a minority, Thomas has had a unique position within the Supreme Court. He believes the United States Constitution is “color-blind,” and he is part of an “emerging majority on the court that believes laws granting preferential treatment based on race should be struck down,” according to a “60 Minutes” report from 2007.
Thomas said that he grew up in a rural area in the South with a heavy emphasis on keeping an African dialect in use. As he grew up, many in the area spoke a mixture of English and the native African language. “With our own dialect, our own language, it made learning Standard English a little bit difficult,” he said.
According to Supremecourts.gov, as a Republican on the Supreme Court, Thomas has associated closely with the far right of the Court. He often votes on the same side as the conservative justices William Rehnquist and Antonin Scalia. When Thomas began his tenure on the Supreme Court, he was sometimes seen by others as a junior version of Scalia. Since then, Thomas has come forward from Scalia’s shadow, contributing his own conservative thinking, and is often described as the most conservative member of the Supreme Court.
Thomas is the author of The New York Times bestseller “My Grandfather’s Son: A Memoir.” Thomas’ newest book, “Supreme Discomfort: The Divided Soul of Clarence Thomas,” was released in April of 2007.
The Tate Lecture Series Student Forum, beginning at 4:30 p.m. in the Hughes-Trigg Student Center, is at maximum capacity, according to the organization’s Web site. Students are asked to e-mail [email protected] to be put on a wait list. The lecture, scheduled to begin at 8 p.m. in McFarlin Auditorium, is also sold out.
