"Slaves did not lose their dignity...because the government allowed them to be enslaved"

[Kelvin Mace]

Last edited Thu Jul 2, 2015, 12:38 PM - Edit history (1)

Let me be fair and give you the complete context of that statement in Clarence Thomas' dissent in Obergefell v. Hodges:

In dissent, Thomas argued that "human dignity cannot be taken away by the government. Slaves did not lose their dignity (any more than they lost their humanity) because the government allowed them to be enslaved. Those held in internment camps did not lose their dignity because the government confined them. And those denied governmental benefits certainly do not lose their dignity because the government denies them those benefits. The government cannot bestow dignity, and it cannot take it away."

This was written by a sitting an African American Supreme Court Justice(?) in the second decade of the 21st century!!

How disconnected from reality can a human being be?

Of all the sins of the Democratic Party, this has been the most damaging. By refusing to filibuster this man, as they did Robert Bork (Correction, Bork was voted down in the senate. Thomas should have been voted down as well but 11 Democrats defected and voted to confirm), they sowed the seeds of the loss of the 2000 election, the elevation of corporations to personhood, the destruction of the Voting Rights Act, and numerous other erosions of justice and liberty.

Thomas is the personification of Judge Narragansett from Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged, to such and extant that Rand is probably writhing in her grave in orgasmic ecstasy.

Try to remember that this man replaced Thurgood Marshall

[Nitram]

1. I'm beginning to wonder if the man is senile.

That is the most non-sensical, patently stupid opinion I've ever read.

[LuvNewcastle]

2. I think he's always been stupid.

He was chosen because they knew he would do as he was told, just like Reagan.

[Kelvin Mace]

10. He was chosen, in my opinion, because

1) He was black and would make it hard for Dems to stop

2) He was a lazy jurist

3) He was not very good at his job

4) He was pliable and sympathetic to conservatism.

5) He was a religious nut

[shenmue]

3. Ceiling Cat willing, he'll retire before too long

[Kelvin Mace]

11. Not likely,

It is a sweet gig with little effort, a fat paycheck and all the graft his wife can eat, with almost ZERO chance of punishment.

[Gothmog]

4. Clarence Thomas is a really bad SCOTUS justice

[backscatter712]

5. I'm with George Takei. Clarence Thomas is a clown in blackface.

Video here: https://www.facebook.com/FOX10Phoenix/videos/868880156493866/

[Kelvin Mace]

15. That was a very poor choice of words

and is being played up by cons as "racist".

[backscatter712]

18. Oh, NOW the Breitheads are howling "RACISM!"

Not when eight predominantly black churches get burned down, or when Dylann Roof murdered nine black people in cold blood, or when Trayvon Martin, or Freddie Gray, or countless others got killed for no good reason, or when southern racist shitheads continue to fly the flag of slavery and treason.

But when George Takei shoots his mouth off about the right-wing's token in the SCOTUS, now they're howling. That's rich.

Sorry, but if the shoe fits, Clarence Thomas should wear it.

[Kelvin Mace]

19. Agreed,

but we really need to give the tiny children as few sharp objects as possible.

[backscatter712]

20. Yeah, the right-wing's in a spastic rage right now.

Gotta keep them in the rubber room until they can be sedated.

[dsc]

6. Bork was not filibustered

He was voted down plain and simple.

[Kelvin Mace]

12. Oops, sorry you are correct

Will correct...

[Octafish]

7. Clarence Thomas is criminally insane.

And he goes to the Bohemian Grove.

Justice Thomas reported a wealth of gifts

In the last six years he has accepted free items valued at $42,200, the most on the high court.

December 31, 2004|Richard A. Serrano and David G. Savage | Times Staff Writers

Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas has accepted tens of thousands of dollars worth of gifts since joining the high court, including $1,200 worth of tires, valuable historical items and a $5,000 personal check to help pay a relative's education expenses.

SNIP...

He also took a free trip aboard a private jet to the exclusive Bohemian Grove club in Northern California -- arranged by a wealthy Texas real estate investor who helped run an advocacy group that filed briefs with the Supreme Court.

Those and other gifts were disclosed by Thomas under a 1978 federal ethics law that requires high-ranking government officials, including the nine Supreme Court justices, to file a report each year that lists gifts, money and other items they have received.

Thomas has reported accepting much more valuable gifts than his Supreme Court colleagues over the last six years, according to their disclosure forms on file at the court.

CONTINUED...

http://articles.latimes.com/2004/dec/31/nation/na-gifts31

Wanna bet that's just the tip of the iceberg, those gifts?

[vinny9698]

16. How about his wife working for the Koch brothers

She also was receiving substantial amount of money and it was not being reported.
n January 2011, Justice Thomas "inadvertently" left out information about his wife's employment, including earnings over the past 13 years that added up to as much as $1.6 million.
http://www.usnews.com/news/blogs/washington-whispers/2012/07/02/new-financial-forms-show-clarence-thomass-wife-continued-to-lobby-against-healthcare-in-2011

[Octafish]

17. That couple is crazy about money.

It's like living the American Dream where good things happen to those in a dignified position to return a favor.

[niyad]

8. thomas needs to retire to a nice, secluded room with vulcanized accessories.

[Rex]

9. To allow someone to do something, means they were given a choice to begin with.

I weep for my country sometimes, so many horrible people in positions of power and not a dam thing we can do about it.

That opinion has to be the worst in the SCOTUS history.

[tblue37]

13. But a vicious person/institution can still insult that dignity and violate the rights that

properly belong to a person because his or her human dignity entitles him or her to those rights.

If someone steals my car, he is violating my right to possession and use of my car. I don't legally lose those rights and then regain them only if the car is returned to me, so the thief is not depriving me of my *right* to possess and use my property, but he is most certainly violating that right and depriving me of the freedom to exercise that right.

Similarly, the government is not "bestowing" dignity on LBGT people, but by legally depriving them of the opportunity to exercise the rights that their human dignity should legally ensure, the government has certainly insulted and violated that human dignity.

[LeftinOH]

14. Long Dong Silver would have made a better jurist than Thomas.

Anita Hill isn't in the public eye anymore (not that she ever wanted to be)... I'm just curious to know her thoughts about Thomas' career on the Supreme Court; it's been almost a quarter century now.

[Skittles]

21. he has done everything in his power to distance himself from black people

and now he knows how they felt......OMG the utter GALL