Volume 8: Issue 3
Jonathan H. Adler Reviews The Supreme Court Opinions of Clarence Thomas, 1991-2006 by Henry Mark Holzer
Since his nomination to the Supreme Court to replace Justice Thurgood Marshall in 1991, Justice Clarence Thomas has been a magnet for attention. His speeches and public appearances draw crowds and controversy, his principled jurisprudential philosophy both devotion and derision. After fi fteen years on the Court, he is already one of the most studied Supreme Court justices of all time. Thomas has been the subject of more profi les, biographies, and book-length treatments than all but the most prominent jurists. Among the titles currently available on Amazon are Scott Michael Gerber’s First Principles: The Jurisprudence of Justice Thomas, Ken Fostkett’s Judging Thomas: The Life and Times of Clarence Thomas, Andrew Peyton Thomas’ Clarence Thomas: A Biography, and the newly released Supreme Discomfort: The Divided Soul of Clarence Thomas by Kevin Merida and Michael Fletcher. Several more books were written about his epic confi rmation battle, and more profi les are on the way. In 2003, Harper-Collins inked Thomas to a $1.5 million book contract for My Grandfather’s Son: A Memoir, due for release this October. This may seem a jaw-dropping sum for a Supreme Court Justice’s memoir, but it was almost certainly a good investment....