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notadmblnd Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Jan-01-05 04:08 PM
Original message
Clarence Thomas plays clever waiting game
Thursday, December 30, 2004
By Jonathan Turley


snip:
The intrigue escalated suddenly a couple of weeks ago when White House officials intentionally leaked that the president was leaning toward Thomas for chief justice. Liberals went into a frenzy, and the dust-up may have served to help Scalia's chances. Incoming Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nevada, responded to the rumors by saying on NBC's "Meet the Press" that he would oppose Thomas, whom he described as "an embarrassment to the Supreme Court." Then, in a surprising concession, he said he could support Scalia as an alternative.

But Thomas is still the front-runner. Those who are astonished by his resurrection after his bruising 1991 confirmation hearing know little about his grit. Thomas likes to tell the story of how he was hounded by racist students at a Catholic school. The students took his statuette of St. Jude from next to his bed and broke off its head. Thomas glued it back together. When they did it again, he got industrial glue and pieced it back together. They stopped messing with his statuette.

Once Thomas was sworn in on the court, he seemed to disappear from view, never speaking in oral arguments and rarely speaking publicly. But he lost no time behind the scenes in patiently gluing himself back together. Over the course of the last decade, Thomas has quietly assembled an impressive power base in Washington, built the old-fashioned way, one appointment at a time. He has secured top positions for his clerks and associates throughout the government, from the White House counsel's office to the Justice Department to the United States Sentencing Commission. This cadre also includes an array of academic leaders, like Berkeley law professor (and former Justice official) John Yoo and media figures like talk-show host Laura Ingraham.


more... http://www.detnews.com/2005/editorial/0501/01/A17-45762.htm
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joeybee12 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Jan-01-05 04:14 PM
Response to Original message
1. There's a simple reason why Clarence Thomas doesn't ask questions
during oral arguments...it's because he usually doesn't understand what the lawyers and other justices are talking about!

Dumb fuckhead.
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Fovea Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Jan-01-05 04:15 PM
Response to Original message
2. Reid support Scalia?
WTF? Ok, can we please get some folks with balls in our leadership?
This is beyond silly to criminal and dangerous, I mean what the *quack*, over?


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patdem Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Jan-01-05 04:24 PM
Response to Original message
3. The dumbing down of ameurika at all the right (pun) places!
The pResident, the Chief Justice..Frist a doctor but so was Frankenstein! Delay the bug juice sucker.

When will we get REAL statesmen back? :cry:...another blow and this on New Years Day! :grr:
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pretzel4gore Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Jan-01-05 04:27 PM
Response to Original message
4. remember, thomas said he'll use his supreme court
job to 'get back' at america
the asshole's driven by hate....too bad he allies himself with those who hounded him at school.....if you read 'strange justice' by mayer and abramson, there's a feel that thomas, who liked nasty porn etc, which came out during the anita hill tv show, probably has something in his closet that the racists use to control him (and explains their relationship with him) thomas doesn't care: he hates the country and sees the bushevik rw as the way to hurt it
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elehhhhna Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Jan-01-05 05:07 PM
Response to Original message
5. This is a thread title that begs for the response "between the sheets"
if we'd add that to most of our post titles, DU would be a happier place.
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rodeodance Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Jan-01-05 07:43 PM
Response to Reply #5
7. He is at the bottom of my list of human beings!!
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Demeter Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Jan-01-05 07:01 PM
Response to Original message
6. Nothing Bush Does Surprises Me
disgusts me, surely. Makes me want to emigrate, naturally.

What surprises me is the passivity of many, and the unquestioning support of the rest.
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proudbluestater Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Jan-02-05 12:32 AM
Response to Original message
8. The idea of Clarence Thomas as chief justice is simply revolting. n/t
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Kablooie Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Jan-02-05 03:09 PM
Response to Reply #8
9. But count on it. He will be Bush's chief justice ...
and set the tone for Amerika for the rest of our lives.
Goodbye America. It's been a pretty good 200 years but it's finally time to die.
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klyon Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Jan-02-05 08:41 PM
Response to Original message
10. Isn't it true that the person that discredited Hill recanted
if so then
she probably told the truth
he is guilty of harassment
he should not be on the bench
he was never even qualified
Thomas as Chief is a very scary idea
Scalia as Chief would be very bad also
Thomas should resign
He follows Scalia on everything
Rehnquist gives him a light load because he is a lightweight
He should resign

KL
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Kablooie Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-03-05 12:20 AM
Response to Reply #10
11. Even Scalia has no respect for Thomas
He says that Thomas does not believe in precedent which is the foundation for the whole judicial system.
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