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Justice Thomas at University of Florida

Orin Kerr • February 10, 2010 12:03 am

A pretty interesting conversation, via Michael Dorf.

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    13 Comments

    1. Mike McDougal says:

      The key part of the speech is where he refers to TTT students. See here and here.

      As for the more substantive point, I wonder if there’s a good way of comparing the output quality of Thomas’s clerks versus those of the other justices.  (Quote)

      February 10, 2010, 1:41 am

    2. Mike McDougal says:

      Around 1:14:45 Thomas talks diversity in the judiciary. I’m not sure whether he’s saying society has become more accepting, allowing greater diversity or whether he’s tepidly supporting something like affirmative action. I suspect it’s more of the former, but it wasn’t quite the answer I expected to hear.  (Quote)

      February 10, 2010, 2:23 am

    3. Nels says:

      Mike, I interpreted that as him saying that when systems are fair, giving everyone an opportunity, there will naturally be diversity in the judiciary. He does seem to be agreeing that confidence in the judiciary is to some degree tied to people seeing judges up there that look like them.  (Quote)

      February 10, 2010, 3:21 am

    5. LTR says:

      I’ll never forget Scalia talking about Jeffrey Sutton: “He was one of my best clerks although he went to Ohio State”. It sounded like baseball coach saying: “He was a great defensive shortstop although he weighted 300 pounds and had a leg amputated due to diabetes”.

      Good to see Thomas resists the U.S. News rankings snobbery that seems to be dominant in law profession.  (Quote)

      February 10, 2010, 6:36 am

    6. Mark Field says:

      Brian Tamanaha has some comments here.  (Quote)

      February 10, 2010, 10:09 am

    7. Drib says:

      LTR: I’ll never forget Scalia talking about Jeffrey Sutton: “He was one of my best clerks although he went to Ohio State”. It sounded like baseball coach saying: “He was a great defensive shortstop although he weighted 300 pounds and had a leg amputated due to diabetes”. 

      Boooo.  (Quote)

      February 10, 2010, 10:10 am

    8. Pendulum says:

      I believe the actual quote was “for God’s sake, he went to Ohio State.”  (Quote)

      February 10, 2010, 10:41 am

    9. Andrew says:

      Nelson Lund will doubtless welcome Justice Thomas’s endorsement of circuit-riding, provided it can be done by RV rather than horseback. Pity the horse! My own size has benefitted from doing all my own cooking, and being a lousy cook.  (Quote)

      February 10, 2010, 12:08 pm

    10. pedro says:

      Go Gators!  (Quote)

      February 10, 2010, 2:18 pm

    11. JohnF says:

      One has to be struck by his decency, intelligence and caring. A great man.  (Quote)

      February 10, 2010, 4:08 pm

    12. Andrew says:

      I second JohnF.  (Quote)

      February 10, 2010, 5:25 pm

    13. John Herbison says:

      I did not view the entire video, but when Justice Thomas spoke of ascertaining what the drafters of a constitutional provision meant, I wondered whether he regards Bolling v. Sharpe as having been wrongly decided. I seriously doubt that the eighteenth century drafters of the Fifth Amendment Due Process Clause would have had any problem with de jure segregation in the District of Columbia.  (Quote)

      February 11, 2010, 2:30 am

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