The Parthenon

Issue date: 9/11/07 Section: News

Media Credit: Melissa Newman U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas addressed the audience of a local AARP meeting Monday in the Joan C. Edwards Performing Arts Center.

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas said he finds it interesting that most people who consider themselves experts on constitutional law have not even read the Constitution.

"All you need to be an expert on the Supreme Court are a couple of drinks and a mouth," Thomas said to the not-filled-to-capacity audience Monday evening at an AARP meeting in the Joan C. Edwards Performing Arts Center.

In a more serious tone, the gray-headed Thomas, who is the first Supreme Court justice to visit Marshall, added that one cannot be in a position of criticizing if they are not educated about the issue, especially about the proceedings of the Supreme Court.

"Those outside of the building have no idea what happens inside the building," Thomas said. "What I continue to be surprised by is the difference of what actually happens and what is said that happens."

Thomas said support and cooperation are examples of what does happen inside the courtroom, and refusing to get caught up in self-interest is Thomas' way of staying grounded in such an esteemed position. Leaving politics and personal relationships out of the equation fall right behind.

"We always begin our work with a handshake, and we always have lunch together," Thomas said about the relationship between the justices. "It's hard to break bread together and hate each other."

He referred to the Supreme Court and its members as the antithesis of what can be seen in Washington, D.C., and said he has never heard an unkind word.

But society is often focused on disagreements, the justice pointed out. He reminisced about his childhood, recalling that his grandfather would argue with others over politics and sports, and he loved to listen to the disputes. But regardless of how much the verbal disagreements intrigued him, the fighting and politics were the very aspects of his previous position as the director of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission he detested. As a justice, he said, he can just do the job.

Continued...

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