Justice Clarence Thomas says his faith and upbringing bolster his willingness to “take the beatings, the criticism, the unfairness” that comes with his “independence” on the Supreme Court.
In an interview by his wife, The Daily Caller writer Ginni Thomas, the 26-year veteran conservative jurist said he learned early in life to “build bridges.”
“Everyone has inherent value and is worth listening to,” he told the DC.
He also credits his faith for guiding him through poverty — and to his first job with Missouri Attorney General Jack Danforth, the DC reported.
Faith gives him “the strength to do what I have to do every day, to assert the independence, to be willing to take the beatings, the criticism, the unfairness,” Thomas said, adding that when he goes to daily Mass, it helps him do his “job, a secular job, in the right way and for the right reasons.”
He quoted Richard Wright’s declaration that “the worst I’ve ever been treated is when I told the truth.”
And he said a speech he gave 20 years ago to black judges in Memphis, Tenn., was written to draw attention to “the right, among blacks, to think for themselves, the right to be that invisible man, to be the one who lays claim to his own thoughts.”
Thomas told the DC his biggest blessings are being born in America, his faith, his son, the gift of literacy — “It is like Christmas every day” to read — and his inter-racial marriage.
“If I were more progressive or liberal it [our marriage] would be considered progressive to be in an inter-racial marriage, but if you are not, then you are selling out.”
“I don’t think of it as some statement. You’re my wife,” he said, Ginny Thomas reported.
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