| Clarence Thomas, perhaps the laziest, most incurious and banal justice to ever sit on the nations highest court, an affirmative action appointment foisted upon us by Bush the Elder when the late, great Thurgood Marshall retired, a man who has not seen fit to pose a question from the bench in over three years, has finally spoken on the record, to a group of high school students. I wish he had remained mum. Shakespeare was right - it is better to stay quiet and be thought a fool than to open your mouth and remove all doubt.
But who would have ever guessed that a Supreme Court justice would find the Bill of Rights burdensome and offensive? In fact, he thinks Americans probably have too many rights, and they ought to be counterweighted.
The evening was devoted to the Bill of Rights, but Justice Thomas did not embrace the document, and he proposed a couple of alternatives.
'Today there is much focus on our rights," Justice Thomas said. "Indeed, I think there is a proliferation of rights."
"I am often surprised by the virtual nobility that seems to be accorded those with grievances," he said. "Shouldn't there at least be equal time for our Bill of Obligations and our Bill of Responsibilities?"
He gave examples: "It seems that many have come to think that each of us is owed prosperity and a certain standard of living. They're owed air conditioning, cars, telephones, televisions."
Those are luxuries, Justice Thomas said.
"I have to admit," he said, "that I'm one of those people that still thinks the dishwasher is a miracle. What a device! And I have to admit that because I think that way, I like to load it. I like to look in and see how that dishes were magically cleaned."
Let's recap here. We have a supreme court justice who is gobsmacked by the miracle of clean dishes courtesy of that marvelous, magical device we know as a "dishwasher" - and he finds the Bill of Rights burdensome, and thinks the Founders blew it when they didn't establish a "Bill of Obligations" - even though the very notion of such a thing runs counter to a free people who control their government rather than submit to control by the government.
How fucking denigrating and offensive is it to men like John Lewis, and to the memory of the late Justice Marshall and the murdered leaders King and Evars to lump a perceived 'right' to luxury items with the right to vote and not face discrimination in the workplace - issues that resided at the center of the civil rights movement that made his lifetime appointment to the court possible.
Thomas has become ever more contemptuous of the court and his position on it lately. I think it is time to start thinking about removing him if he doesn't step down voluntarily in the near future. He was never qualified and his presence on the court has always been an affront to decency. Whining about Americans having too many rights ought to be grounds for impeachment. |
