The engine that just didn’t give a f*ck

mom ran you over in a car? dad beat you? GTFO

[Yes, I'm mixing my children's stories here in order to come up with this creative title, but 'Justice Thomas is an effing hypocrite' just doesn't have the same oomph.]

On the twentieth anniversary of Justice Thomas’ confirmation to the highest court in the United States, USA Today has this “retrospective” piece on the work of the Silent Assassin. Focusing primarily on his work in criminal justice cases, the article lays bare the complete disdain Justice Thomas has shown for those accused of and convicted of crimes. And no story of this ilk is complete without a quote that makes you groan and your eyes roll so far into the back of your head that you’re not quite sure if you’re awake or dreaming:

Twenty years ago, when a senator asked then-appellate Judge Clarence Thomas why he wanted to be on the Supreme Court, Thomas said he often looked out his courthouse window at arriving prisoners and said to himself, “But for the grace of God, there go I.”

During his confirmation hearing, Thomas explained that he would identify with defendants: “So I can walk in their shoes and I could bring something different to the court.”

It’s okay. Gagging on whatever you’re eating/drinking/throwing a fist through your monitor is an acceptable reaction. I’ll wait till you call 911/poison control/customer service. Back? Feel better? Didn’t think so.

That the same man could utter the words quoted above during his confirmation hearings and then spend 20 years on the bench imposing his morality and punishing others for not being as stoic as he is reflects two things: 1) a truly distorted view of himself as a hero figure; and 2) the utter uselessness of confirmation hearings.

The USA Today piece focuses on Thomas’ opinions in recent cases like Connick v. Thompson and Cullen v. Pinholster. On Pinholster:

Thomas wrote: “When he was very young, Pinholster suffered two serious head injuries, first at age 2 or 3 when he was run over by a car, and again at age 4 or 5 when he went through the windshield during a car accident. When he was 5, Pinholster’s stepfather moved in and was abusive, or nearly so.”

In her rendition of the facts, Sotomayor noted that it was Pinholster’s mother who ran him over as child. Regarding the stepfather, Sotomayor offered no “nearly so” caveat: “Pinholster’s stepfather beat him several times a week, including at least once with a two-by-four board,” she wrote. “There was so much violence in the home that Pinholster’s brother dreaded coming home each day. Pinholster’s half-sister was removed from the home as a result of a beating by his stepfather.”

Thomas allegedly has this on his office wall: “If you do the crime, I’ll damn well make sure you do the time. Constitution? What Constitution?”* The article collects quotes from legal beagles like Jeffery Fisher and the inimitable Orin Kerr, who, due to the possibility of appearing before said Justice have to employ the use of euphemisms in describing his “jurisprudence”:

“When he steps in the shoes of people,” says Stanford University law professor Jeffrey Fisher, “he’s more likely to say tough-love is necessary and you have to take responsibility.”

…

“He certainly is the least compromising of the justices, in that he has strong views and is reluctant to temper them,” says George Washington University law professor Orin Kerr [...]. “The themes you see in his criminal law cases are the themes that you see elsewhere. He says, ‘If you do wrong, you have to take the consequences.’”

Delicately put. In other words (my own): he just doesn’t give a fuck. He thinks he’s better than you and is not afraid to tell you so. He’s on the Supreme Court and you’re just a convicted murderer-scum-of-the-earth. It’s not that Thomas exhibits a failure to understand the nuances and circumstances of individuals’ lives or to appreciate the different shades of gray that make up each human. He’s too smart not to get that. He just intentionally disregards them. Quoth Gamso:

Suck it up is his mantra. Whether you deserve it or not. Them’s the breaks. If your life sucks, live with it. If someone hurts you, too bad. No remedies. No relief. No comfort. No apologies.

So what if you spent decades in prison for a crime you didn’t commit, almost got executed for it? That’s life. Why should the people who cheated to put you there have to pay for what they did? Some people are winners, others losers.

And who cares about the losers?

Not Justice Thomas.

*That’s not a direct quote. In fact, I may have made it all up. Actually, I’m pretty sure I did.