When Liberals Had a Clarence Thomas
The story of Supreme Court Justice Abe Fortas
If there was an award for being the least-qualified Supreme Court justice, Clarence Thomas would most likely win. Nominated by George H.W. Bush and confirmed by the Senate in 1991, Thomas has been on the Supreme Court for almost 32 years. At age 74, he has spent almost half his life as a justice on the Supreme Court.
How qualified was he for that seat? At age 46, he had only been a justice on the federal court of appeals for 19 months before Bush nominated him to replace Thurgood Marshall. Before that, he was chairman of the EEOC (Equal Employment Opportunity Commission). Prior to that appointment, he was Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights at the Department of Education.
Thomas never served as a federal circuit court judge. He never served as a judge in a state court. He was never even a judge in traffic court or a Justice of the Peace. Until his appointment to the Federal Court of Appeals, Thomas had no experience whatsoever as a judge.
For Pete’s sake, Judge Judy had more experience on the bench than he did.
He did, however, have the two required qualifications for the seat of Thurgood Marshall. Those qualifications are as follows:
