"America was founded on a philosophy of individual rights, not group rights."
Biographical Details
Photo: Mark Wilson / Getty Images.
58 years old. Attended Conception Seminary (1967-1968) while considering the Roman Catholic priesthood, but settled on a career in law instead. Graduated from Holy Cross College (summa cum laude, 1971) and Yale Law School (1974). Roman Catholic. Married twice, currently to Virginia Lamp Thomas, with one adult son.
Career Background
1974-1977: Assistant Attorney General for the State of Missouri.
1977-1979: Staff counsel for the Monsanto Company, a biotechnology corporation.
1979-1981: Legislative assistant to Sen. John Danforth (R-MO).
1981-1982: Assistant Secretary of Education for the Office of Civil Rights at the U.S. Department of Education, under the Reagan administration.
1982-1990: Chairman of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) under the Reagan and Bush administrations.
1990-1991: Associate Justice of the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals.
Nomination and Approval
In July 1991, President George Bush nominated Thomas to replace retiring Associate Justice Thurgood Marshall. Justice Thomas' confirmation process was complicated by accusations leveled against him by his former assistant, Anita Hill, who alleged that Thomas had sexually harassed her while they worked together at the EEOC. Thomas was ultimately approved by a razor-thin 52-48 margin, the closest Supreme Court confirmation since the 19th century.
Landmark Cases
Printz v. United States (1997): Although the Printz ruling struck down several gun control laws on Commerce Clause grounds, Justice Thomas wrote a separate concurrence holding that the Second Amendment protects an individual right to bear arms and would have also rendered the laws unconstitutional, independent of Commerce Clause concerns.
Zelman v. Simmons-Harris (2002): Concurred with the majority decision that Ohio's school vouchers program does not violate the First Amendment's establishment clause.
Hamdi v. Rumsfeld (2004): In a lone dissent, argued that the president has near-unrestricted authority to classify U.S. citizens as enemy combatants during wartime.
