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Justice Clarence Thomas seems bored. Why doesn't he run for president in 2012?
By Kashmir Hill and David Lat
Sunday, June 13, 2010

The end of the Supreme Court term later this month marks a milestone: four years in which Justice Clarence Thomas hasn't spoken during oral arguments. That's more than 250 cases heard, and not one word from Thomas, the longest silence of his nearly 19 years on the bench.

Is he unhappy? Bored? Restless?

This is not his normal state. When the justice from Georgia steps out of his black robes, he's a gregarious fellow. When addressing law students, bar associations or Congress, he is charismatic and compelling. At a speech at the University of Florida this year, he cracked self-deprecating jokes and made football references. "Many of you are passionate about your Florida Gators, but how passionate are we about the principles that underlie our country?" he asked. Unfortunately, his people skills are wasted in the stuffy, stilted, stylized interactions between lawyers and Supreme Court justices.

Soon after the election of President George H.W. Bush, when he was approached about serving as a federal judge, Thomas -- then the director of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission -- said he couldn't imagine spending the rest of his life on the bench. But his friend, federal appeals court Judge Laurence Silberman, responded: "It's not like slavery, Clarence. You can always leave if you don't like it." Twenty years later, Thomas is still honored to be a judge. "But I wouldn't say I like it," he said in a speech at Chapman University in 2007. "There's not much that entices about the job."

So why not step down? Thomas should leave his perch at 1 First Street -- and head for 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.

The Republican Party is in disarray, with no clear message -- as shown in last week's primaries -- and with no obvious candidate to challenge President Obama in 2012. Thomas could be the GOP's new standard-bearer. He has enviable name recognition, both as a long-serving justice and as the author of the bestselling 2007 autobiography "My Grandfather's Son." And he has already survived the nasty political attacks that marked his 1991 confirmation hearings.

...

danefan wrote:

Justice Clarence Thomas seems bored. Why doesn't he run for president in 2012?
By Kashmir Hill and David Lat
Sunday, June 13, 2010

The end of the Supreme Court term later this month marks a milestone: four years in which Justice Clarence Thomas hasn't spoken during oral arguments. That's more than 250 cases heard, and not one word from Thomas, the longest silence of his nearly 19 years on the bench.

Is he unhappy? Bored? Restless?

This is not his normal state. When the justice from Georgia steps out of his black robes, he's a gregarious fellow. When addressing law students, bar associations or Congress, he is charismatic and compelling. At a speech at the University of Florida this year, he cracked self-deprecating jokes and made football references. "Many of you are passionate about your Florida Gators, but how passionate are we about the principles that underlie our country?" he asked. Unfortunately, his people skills are wasted in the stuffy, stilted, stylized interactions between lawyers and Supreme Court justices.

Soon after the election of President George H.W. Bush, when he was approached about serving as a federal judge, Thomas -- then the director of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission -- said he couldn't imagine spending the rest of his life on the bench. But his friend, federal appeals court Judge Laurence Silberman, responded: "It's not like slavery, Clarence. You can always leave if you don't like it." Twenty years later, Thomas is still honored to be a judge. "But I wouldn't say I like it," he said in a speech at Chapman University in 2007. "There's not much that entices about the job."

So why not step down? Thomas should leave his perch at 1 First Street -- and head for 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.

The Republican Party is in disarray, with no clear message -- as shown in last week's primaries -- and with no obvious candidate to challenge President Obama in 2012. Thomas could be the GOP's new standard-bearer. He has enviable name recognition, both as a long-serving justice and as the author of the bestselling 2007 autobiography "My Grandfather's Son." And he has already survived the nasty political attacks that marked his 1991 confirmation hearings.

...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/co ... 03249.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Interesting to say the least. He definitely hates his current job.

danefan wrote:

Justice Clarence Thomas seems bored. Why doesn't he run for president in 2012?
By Kashmir Hill and David Lat
Sunday, June 13, 2010

The end of the Supreme Court term later this month marks a milestone: four years in which Justice Clarence Thomas hasn't spoken during oral arguments. That's more than 250 cases heard, and not one word from Thomas, the longest silence of his nearly 19 years on the bench.

Is he unhappy? Bored? Restless?

This is not his normal state. When the justice from Georgia steps out of his black robes, he's a gregarious fellow. When addressing law students, bar associations or Congress, he is charismatic and compelling. At a speech at the University of Florida this year, he cracked self-deprecating jokes and made football references. "Many of you are passionate about your Florida Gators, but how passionate are we about the principles that underlie our country?" he asked. Unfortunately, his people skills are wasted in the stuffy, stilted, stylized interactions between lawyers and Supreme Court justices.

Soon after the election of President George H.W. Bush, when he was approached about serving as a federal judge, Thomas -- then the director of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission -- said he couldn't imagine spending the rest of his life on the bench. But his friend, federal appeals court Judge Laurence Silberman, responded: "It's not like slavery, Clarence. You can always leave if you don't like it." Twenty years later, Thomas is still honored to be a judge. "But I wouldn't say I like it," he said in a speech at Chapman University in 2007. "There's not much that entices about the job."

So why not step down? Thomas should leave his perch at 1 First Street -- and head for 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.

The Republican Party is in disarray, with no clear message -- as shown in last week's primaries -- and with no obvious candidate to challenge President Obama in 2012. Thomas could be the GOP's new standard-bearer. He has enviable name recognition, both as a long-serving justice and as the author of the bestselling 2007 autobiography "My Grandfather's Son." And he has already survived the nasty political attacks that marked his 1991 confirmation hearings.

...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/co ... 03249.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Interesting to say the least. He definitely hates his current job.

UNHWildCats wrote:

danefan wrote:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/co ... 03249.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Interesting to say the least. He definitely hates his current job.

Not sure how GOP voters would like him waliing away and giving Obama yet another court nomination.

Baldy wrote:

UNHWildCats wrote: Not sure how GOP voters would like him waliing away and giving Obama yet another court nomination.

Not sure what the laws are, but why couldn't he do both? If Kerry, Obama, McCain, The Hildabeast, etc. can run for President while keeping their Senate seats, why couldn't Thomas stay on the bench and run?

mainejeff wrote:You could run Morgan Freeman right now and he wouldn't win.

This country has "black fatigue".

ASUG8 wrote:It will be the Anita Hill controversy all over again.

GSUAlumniEagle wrote:Simply no way in hell this happens.

I read Thomas' book last year. Knew he was from my hometown (Savannah), but beyond that it was a rather dull read. But one of the things I remember thinking about the book was how much Thomas portrayed that the Anita Hill saga drained him. No way he puts himself through that again, and we all know it WOULD come up.

Beyond that, as has been constantly stated here, no way a sitting SCOTUS justice would run for office while holding a seat on the Court. The conflict of interest is simply too great, and they'd miss practically an entire term. No way in hell it happens.

And since there's no way Thomas would resign his seat to run, in effect allowing Obama to replace him with a more liberal justice, this isn't worth discussing. Which makes me wonder why I wasted the five minutes typing this post. Boredom, I suppose.

GannonFan wrote:

mainejeff wrote:You could run Morgan Freeman right now and he wouldn't win.

This country has "black fatigue".

I don't know - maybe show some clips from the movie "Deep Impact" and you might be able to convince people that Morgan Freeman is already President - you always get a nice boost being the incumbent!

GSUAlumniEagle wrote:Simply no way in hell this happens.

I read Thomas' book last year. Knew he was from my hometown (Savannah), but beyond that it was a rather dull read. But one of the things I remember thinking about the book was how much Thomas portrayed that the Anita Hill saga drained him. No way he puts himself through that again, and we all know it WOULD come up.

Beyond that, as has been constantly stated here, no way a sitting SCOTUS justice would run for office while holding a seat on the Court. The conflict of interest is simply too great, and they'd miss practically an entire term. No way in hell it happens.

And since there's no way Thomas would resign his seat to run, in effect allowing Obama to replace him with a more liberal justice, this isn't worth discussing. Which makes me wonder why I wasted the five minutes typing this post. Boredom, I suppose.

native wrote:Clarence Thomas is one of my all-time favorite justices!

Unlike many, he is "real people" and has written many solid opinions, to the great surprise of both his arrogant liberal and hoity-toity conservative critics. Fvck 'em!

Franks Tanks wrote:

danefan wrote:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/co ... 03249.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Interesting to say the least. He definitely hates his current job.

Interesting idea for the struggling GOP. He would surely get killed for his lack of experience at actually being in charge of people and budgets, but it may take a bold move from the GOP such as this to challange Obama in 2012 (despite his current dip in popularity).

It would also be nice to see a Patriot Leaguer in the White House (Holy Cross grad).

danefan wrote:

native wrote:Clarence Thomas is one of my all-time favorite justices!

Unlike many, he is "real people" and has written many solid opinions, to the great surprise of both his arrogant liberal and hoity-toity conservative critics. Fvck 'em!

Can you cite to one decision he's ever written of consequence?

Franks Tanks wrote:

danefan wrote:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/co ... 03249.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Interesting to say the least. He definitely hates his current job.

Interesting idea for the struggling GOP. He would surely get killed for his lack of experience at actually being in charge of people and budgets, but it may take a bold move from the GOP such as this to challange Obama in 2012 (despite his current dip in popularity).

It would also be nice to see a Patriot Leaguer in the White House (Holy Cross grad).

Baldy wrote:

GSUAlumniEagle wrote:Simply no way in hell this happens.

I read Thomas' book last year. Knew he was from my hometown (Savannah), but beyond that it was a rather dull read. But one of the things I remember thinking about the book was how much Thomas portrayed that the Anita Hill saga drained him. No way he puts himself through that again, and we all know it WOULD come up.

Beyond that, as has been constantly stated here, no way a sitting SCOTUS justice would run for office while holding a seat on the Court. The conflict of interest is simply too great, and they'd miss practically an entire term. No way in hell it happens.

And since there's no way Thomas would resign his seat to run, in effect allowing Obama to replace him with a more liberal justice, this isn't worth discussing. Which makes me wonder why I wasted the five minutes typing this post. Boredom, I suppose.

Of course he isn't going to run, but the interesting proposition is certainly worthy of a conversation.

UNHWildCats wrote:

GSUAlumniEagle wrote:Simply no way in hell this happens.

I read Thomas' book last year. Knew he was from my hometown (Savannah), but beyond that it was a rather dull read. But one of the things I remember thinking about the book was how much Thomas portrayed that the Anita Hill saga drained him. No way he puts himself through that again, and we all know it WOULD come up.

Beyond that, as has been constantly stated here, no way a sitting SCOTUS justice would run for office while holding a seat on the Court. The conflict of interest is simply too great, and they'd miss practically an entire term. No way in hell it happens.

And since there's no way Thomas would resign his seat to run, in effect allowing Obama to replace him with a more liberal justice, this isn't worth discussing. Which makes me wonder why I wasted the five minutes typing this post. Boredom, I suppose.

Its also worth pointing out that even if he were to maintain his seat and go AWOL from the court to run for office like lots of Senators do, he unlike a Senator faces the possibility of impeachment.

native wrote:Clarence Thomas is one of my all-time favorite justices!

Unlike many, he is "real people"..........