Clarence Thomas and the segregationist Mississippi sheriff

An article by Bob Tyrell that discusses a speech he attended by Justice Thomas.

Then there is Thomas, to give them a migraine. I heard him speak the other day at the portrait unveiling for Judge Lawrence Silberman. There were other speakers, all very distinguished and eloquent; but none spoke so eloquently and learnedly as this black justice, who had been raised in poverty in Sheriff Rainey's rural South. Contrary to his detractors he has a first-rate mind, a fine sense of the law and character of the finest mettle. He thinks for himself. At Yale Law School, his thoughts followed a radical course. As life went on, he adopted conservative principles. For exercising his freedom of thought, he has been abominated by the career civil rights mountebanks. Their tireless public contempt for him has made his life a trial.

Listening to him the other day at the courthouse, it occurred to me that he is too sensitive a man not to be wounded by their slanders, but he remains cheerful and unbowed. His laugh is one of the most musical instruments in Washington. I know of no better-rounded man than Thomas.