Behind the Caricature of Justice Thomas

A column by Brian DeBose of the Washington Times:

We caught up with him at a soiree in honor of his new book "My Grandfather's Son."

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And you can forget the idea that this man has no personality.

We found him to be quite funny and jovial, with a big hearty laugh that could be heard in a noisy 20' by 16' room filled with about 40 people. Most were the justice's friends, but he was open with everyone.

"I do this all the time," Mr. Thomas said. "All over the country, just not in a setting where I am promoting a book ... I just don't go around promoting myself."

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Asked who he was trying to reach by telling his story, Mr. Thomas said: "If you have to pay a mortgage, worry about your bills, have children and have hope for the future, that's the audience: regular every-day people."

"And you are going to have struggles," he promised.

How do you stay positive, he asked. How do you put one foot in front of the other?

"See the people who are the critics? They have all the answers. But you don't and that's my point. And the reason you want to talk about these things is you want other people to see that it's hard, you struggle and people have real lives. Some days you're down, but you got to get up and go to work. The book is for those people, it's for you man. Stay strong, be positive and keep at it," Mr. Thomas said.

Those were his final words to me and his message he wants people to walk away with after reading his book.