# Clarence Thomas *Associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, 1991–present* Clarence Thomas (born June 23, 1948) has been an associate justice of the [[Supreme Court of the United States]] since 1991.[^2] President George H. W. Bush nominated him on July 1, 1991, to succeed [[Thurgood Marshall]].[^1] The [[United States Senate]] confirmed him on October 15, 1991, by a vote of 52 to 48.[^1] The project's time table and Wikipedia both describe this as the narrowest Supreme Court confirmation margin in a century.[^1][^2] Before he joined the Court, Thomas held several posts. He was an assistant attorney general of Missouri and a legislative assistant to Senator John Danforth.[^2] He then served as assistant secretary for civil rights at the [[U.S. Department of Education]] and, under President Ronald Reagan, as chairman of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. From 1990 he sat on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.[^2] Thomas appears in the Minnesota record in two places. The first is the 1991 confirmation vote, in which Senator Paul Wellstone voted no.[^1] The second is the project's catalogue of validated claim-to-authority pairs on the Privileges or Immunities Clause. That catalogue lists his concurrence in *McDonald v. Chicago*, 561 U.S. 742 (2010), which argued for reviving the Clause.[^3] ## Early life Thomas was born in Pin Point, Georgia, a settlement outside Savannah that freedmen established in the 1880s.[^2] He was the second of three children of M.C. Thomas, a farm worker, and Leola Williams, and his family's first language was Gullah.[^2] His parents' divorce was granted in March 1951. After a house fire in 1955, he lived with his mother in a rented room in Savannah. He was later raised by his grandfather, Myers Anderson.[^2] The College of the Holy Cross awarded him an honors degree in 1971, and Yale Law School conferred his Juris Doctor in 1974.[^2] ## Early legal career Thomas was admitted to the Missouri bar on September 13, 1974.[^2] From 1974 to 1977 he worked under Missouri Attorney General John Danforth as an assistant attorney general, first in criminal appeals and then in revenue and taxation.[^2] Danforth won election to the U.S. Senate in 1976, and Thomas moved to Monsanto's legal department in Saint Louis. He later rejoined Danforth in Washington as a legislative assistant and covered energy matters for the Senate Commerce Committee from 1979 to 1981.[^2] According to Wikipedia, he had changed his party affiliation from Democratic to Republican while working in Missouri.[^2] Pendleton James, the Reagan administration's personnel director, offered Thomas the Education Department civil-rights post, which he took in 1981. Reagan named him chairman of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in 1982.[^2] [[Affirmative action]] goals and timetables were the subject of his 1987 article *Affirmative Action Goals and Timetables: Too Tough? Not Tough Enough!* in the *Yale Law & Policy Review*.[^2] ## D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals President Bush first raised a federal judgeship with Thomas in early 1989.[^2] On October 30, 1989, Bush nominated him to the D.C. Circuit seat that Robert Bork had left. The Senate Judiciary Committee recommended him 12 to 1 in February 1990, and the full Senate confirmed him 98 to 2 on March 6, 1990.[^2] In his 19 months on that court he wrote 19 opinions and ruled in 145 cases. His colleagues there included [[Ruth Bader Ginsburg]].[^2] ## Nomination to the Supreme Court Justice William Brennan retired in July 1990. Advisers to Bush, including Attorney General Dick Thornburgh, judged Thomas inexperienced, and Bush nominated [[David Souter]] instead.[^2] Marshall announced his own retirement on June 27, 1991. On July 1, Bush named Thomas to the seat, calling him the "best qualified at this time".[^1][^2] The NAACP board voted on July 31, 1991, against endorsing Thomas.[^2] The American Bar Association rated him "qualified", below the "well qualified" rating some earlier nominees had received.[^2] The hearings centered on Anita Hill's accusation that Thomas had sexually harassed her while she was his subordinate at the Department of Education and the EEOC.[^2] The Senate confirmed him 52–48 on October 15, 1991.[^1] ## Supreme Court of the United States Thomas joined the Court's conservative wing and aligned with Justice [[Antonin Scalia]].[^2] According to Wikipedia, he voted with Scalia in 92 percent of cases over his first thirteen years. Their approaches later diverged, as Thomas gave more weight to the Constitution's original understanding and showed more readiness to overrule precedent.[^2] His appointment reduced the Court's liberal wing to Justices [[John Paul Stevens]] and [[Harry Blackmun]]. Wikipedia also records friction early in his tenure with Blackmun and [[Sandra Day O'Connor]].[^2] His majority opinions include *Good News Club v. Milford Central School* and *New York State Rifle & Pistol Association, Inc. v. Bruen*. He also dissented in *Gonzales v. Raich*.[^2] Until 2020 he rarely questioned counsel at oral argument. Wikipedia describes him as the Court's leading originalist since Scalia's death and as widely regarded as its most conservative member.[^2] In 1989 he published *The Higher Law Background of the Privileges Or Immunities Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment* in the *Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy*.[^2] In *McDonald v. Chicago* (2010), his concurrence argued for reviving the Privileges or Immunities Clause. The majority instead relied on Due Process incorporation.[^3] ## Personal life Thomas married Kathy Grace Ambush in 1971. They separated in 1981 and divorced in 1984. In 1987 he married Virginia Lamp, then a lobbyist and aide to Representative Dick Armey.[^2] In 2011, 74 Democratic members of the House of Representatives wrote that he should recuse himself from Affordable Care Act cases. They cited an "appearance of a conflict of interest" arising from his wife's work.[^2] In March 2022, texts from 2020 between Virginia Thomas and White House chief of staff Mark Meadows were turned over to the House Select Committee on the January 6 Attack.[^2] ## In the Minnesota record ### Who - President George H. W. Bush nominated Thomas to the Supreme Court.[^1] - Senator Paul Wellstone voted against his confirmation.[^1] ### What - The Senate confirmed Thomas 52–48, with Wellstone voting no.[^1] - In *McDonald v. Chicago*, 561 U.S. 742 (2010), Thomas wrote a concurrence advocating revival of the Privileges or Immunities Clause; the majority used Due Process incorporation.[^3] - During Thomas's tenure, the Court decided [[Ames v. Ohio Department of Youth Services]], 605 U.S. 303 (2025). It held that [[Title VII]]'s disparate-treatment provision "draws no distinctions between majority-group plaintiffs and minority-group plaintiffs" and rejected the Sixth Circuit's heightened "background circumstances" rule for majority-group plaintiffs.[^4] The project's record of the decision does not state Thomas's vote or any separate writing by him. ### When - Thomas was nominated on July 1, 1991, and confirmed on October 15, 1991.[^1] ### Where - Both actions took place in Washington, D.C.[^1] ## Notes [^1]: United States Senate, *Supreme Court Nominations (1789–Present)* (n.d.) — Thomas nominated July 1, 1991, to succeed Thurgood Marshall; confirmed 52–48 on October 15, 1991; project time-table rows TL-0560 and TL-0564, which also record Wellstone's no vote, cite this page. https://www.senate.gov/legislative/nominations/SupremeCourtNominations1789present.htm [^2]: Wikipedia, *Clarence Thomas* (revid 1381412534, retrieved 2026-10-26) — biography, career, D.C. Circuit and Supreme Court nominations, writings, personal life. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clarence_Thomas [^3]: Supreme Court of the United States (via Justia), *McDonald v. Chicago*, 561 U.S. 742 (2010) — Thomas concurrence advocating Privileges or Immunities revival; majority relies on Due Process incorporation. https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/561/742/ [^4]: Supreme Court of the United States, *Ames v. Ohio Department of Youth Services*, No. 23-1039, 605 U.S. 303 (2025) — Title VII disparate-treatment provision draws no distinction between majority- and minority-group plaintiffs; "background circumstances" rule rejected. https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/24pdf/23-1039_c0n2.pdf