President George H. W. Bush, First Lady Barbara Bush and Ginny Thomas look on as Clarence Thomas is sworn in by Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist as the newest Supreme Court Justice on October 23, 1991. Thomas became the nation’s second African American^ to serve on the Supreme Court and would later be honored during Black History Month.
On May 7th, US Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, born June 23, 1948, became the second-longest-serving justice on the Court, surpassing Justice John Paul Stevens (1975-2010). Just days earlier Thomas, who has served more than 34 years, had surpassed Justice Stephen J. Field (1863-1897) to become the third-longest-serving justice.
According to the Supreme Court Historical Society, if Thomas remains on the Court, he will surpass Justice William O. Douglas (1939-1975) as the longest-serving justice in US history on May 20, 2028.
DEMOCRATS HATE THOMAS BECAUSE HE FOLLOWS THE US CONSTITUTION
Justice Clarence Thomas is widely considered one of the most steadfast and thoroughgoing constitutional originalists* to ever serve on the US Supreme Court.
Thomas has left his mark on the Supreme Court, even as his role has evolved over the years. “He began his time on the court often in dissent, and he stood his ground,” said Haley Proctor, a University of Notre Dame law professor who previously served as a clerk for Thomas. “The justice’s influence on the law has been profound,” Proctor said. “And that is a consequence, not only of his many years on the court, but also of his persistence.”
Thomas has helped the court’s 6-3 conservative majority, in place since 2020, to act assertively. On back-to-back days in June 2022, he was the author of a landmark ruling expanding gun rights protected by the US Constitution’s Second Amendment and joined other conservative justices in overturning the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that had legalized abortion nationwide.
In addition to Thomas’ influence on the Supreme Court itself, many of his law clerks, who largely share his originalist judicial philosophy, have been nominated to federal judgeships and executive-branch positions during President Donald Trump’s two terms. Thomas has been the justice most devoted to faithfully upholding our precious US Constitution, both among his current colleagues and virtually every Supreme Court justice since at least the New Deal Era.
Among other positions, Thomas has vocally supported enforcing the Second Amendment, opposed Affirmative Action policies, and criticized the Supreme Court’s over-reliance on precedent at the expense of the US Constitution itself. At a speech in April, he boldly defended America’s founding principles, including that rights come from God, and that the purpose of government is to protect those rights, while denouncing progressivist ideology. SEE ARTICLE LINKED BELOW
Follow me on X Diane L. Gruber
Justice Thomas: “Progressivism Is A Threat To America”
Caption: University of Texas President Jim Davis gives a jersey to US Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas who spoke during a special lecture celebrating the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence at Hogg Memorial Auditorium at the University of Texas on Wednesday, April 15, 2026. Justice Thomas was appointed to the Supreme…
^Thurgood Marshall served on the Court from 1967 to 1991.
*Originalism is the judicial philosophy holding that the text of the Constitution must be interpreted based on its original public meaning at the time it was adopted. Rather than treating the Constitution as a “living” document that evolves with changing societal values, originalists argue that its meaning is fixed until formally amended through the process outlined in Article V.
The author, Diane L. Gruber, is a First Amendment advocate who writes for Substack. She calls her Substack newsletter America First Re-Ignited. Follow me on X @DianeLGruber.
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