He's Pissed Off At Everyone

Clarence Thomas has written a book and has been all over the place taking about his life and his judicial philosophy. Eugene Robinson wonders why he's so bitter. "Thomas is only 59; we'll be saddled with him, and that gigantic chip on his shoulder, for decades to come." Washington Post (10.02.07):

"In the interview with [60 Minutes' Steve] Kroft, Thomas spoke of his experience at Yale Law School, which set aside a number of slots for minority students. He said he sees his Yale law degree as 'tainted,' worth less than a white student's degree.

This is why some critics have described Thomas as self-loathing -- not because he holds conservative political views or because he's a Republican, not because he objects in principle to affirmative action, but because he so discounts his own achievement. All Yale gave Thomas was the opportunity; he had to earn the degree. Yet he overlooks his own brains and hard work."

Witness for the Persecution

"Thomas resents the fact that he couldn't get a job despite graduating in the middle of his class. Maybe prospective employers thought his white classmates were smarter, or maybe they just didn't want to hire a black man. But even if the whole world undervalued Clarence Thomas, why does he so undervalue himself that he keeps his law diploma in the basement with a '15 cents' sticker on the frame?"

"Thomas really should work out these issues for himself. Instead, he seems to be doing his best to save future generations of disadvantaged minorities from the indignity and shame of a Yale law degree."

Jeffrey Toobin has also written a book. While researching it (h/t Huffington), he "went to a speech that Justice Scalia gave at a synagogue here in New York a couple of years ago, and someone asked him, 'What's the difference between your judicial philosophy and Justice Thomas?' I thought a very good question."

"And Scalia talked for a while and he said, 'Look, I'm a conservative. I'm a texturalist. I'm an originalist. But I'm not a nut.'"

Gee. Wonder what he meant by that?