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Just Another Brother On The Sct?: What Justice Clarence Thomas Teaches Us About The Influence Of Racial Identity, Angela Onwuachi-Willig
Just Another Brother On The Sct?: What Justice Clarence Thomas Teaches Us About The Influence Of Racial Identity, Angela Onwuachi-Willig
Faculty Scholarship
Justice Clarence Thomas has generated the attention that most Justices receive only after they have retired. He has been boycotted by the National Bar Association, caricatured as a lawn jockey in Emerge Magazine, and protested by professors at an elite law school. As a general matter, Justice Thomas is viewed as a "non-race" man, a Justice with a jurisprudence that mirrors the Court's most conservative white member, Justice Antonin Scalia, in other words, Justice Scalia in "blackface." This Article argues that, although Justice Thomas's ideology differs from the liberalism that is more widely held by Blacks in the United States, …
Using The Master’S “Tool” To Dismantle His House: Why Justice Clarence Thomas Makes The Case For Affirmative Action, Angela Onwuachi-Willig
Using The Master’S “Tool” To Dismantle His House: Why Justice Clarence Thomas Makes The Case For Affirmative Action, Angela Onwuachi-Willig
Faculty Scholarship
Justice Clarence Thomas, the second black man to sit on the Supreme Court, is famous, or rather infamous, for his opposition to affirmative action. His strongest critics condemn him for attacking the very preferences that helped him reach the Supreme Court. None, however, have considered how Thomas's life itself may be used as a justification for affirmative action. In what ways can the master's "tool" be used to dismantle his house? This Article analyzes Justice Thomas's appointment to the Supreme Court and contends that his nomination to and performance on the Court ironically make the case for forward-looking affirmative action. …