Along with his legal brilliance, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas has gifted us with some classic quotes during his decades of public service, with one in particular that stands out to me being what I call his “Never bend the knee” moment during his highly contentious (thanks to then-Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Joe Biden) 1991 confirmation hearings.
At one point during the hearing, Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) asked Thomas about the rumors that he planned on backing out of the process, and asked what he was going to do. Thomas’ answer (seen on page 260 of the transcript here) was a prescient blueprint for conservatives as to how they should respond to similar baseless smear attacks from Democrats in the future:
Hatch: “Judge, you’re here, though. Some people have been spreading the rumor that perhaps you’re going to withdraw. What’s Clarence Thomas going to do?”
Thomas: “I’d rather die than withdraw. If they’re gonna kill me they’re gonna kill me.”
Hatch: “So you’d still like to serve on the Supreme Court?”
Thomas: “I’d rather die than withdraw from the process. Not for the purpose of serving on the Supreme Court, but for the purpose of not being driven out of this process. I will not be scared. I don’t like bullies. I’ve never run from bullies. I never cry uncle and I’m not going to cry uncle today, whether I want to be on the Supreme Court or not.”
Here we are nearly 31 years since his confirmation and Thomas, who is the longest-serving Justice of those who are currently on the court, is still providing us with some gems, including one from the Old Parkland Conference last Friday, where he spoke about, among other things, how badly the draft majority opinion Supreme Court leak that happened earlier this month had hurt the Supreme Court and also how the protests that were being held outside the conservative Justices’ homes – including his – were beyond the pale.
While I urge people to watch his full remarks from the conference here, at one point during his back and forth with former Bush Deputy Assistant AG for the Office of Legal Counsel John Yoo, Thomas quipped about comments he’d made to the media early on during his time as a Supreme Court Justice when some in the MSM suggested he resign from his position. Thomas’ response, as you’ll read and hear below, was priceless and absolutely spot-on:
Justice Thomas to the media:
"I will absolutely leave the Court when I do my job as poorly as you do yours." pic.twitter.com/2V7h9vtoLt
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) May 16, 2022
In other words, it’ll be a cold day in hell before he leaves the Supreme Court as a direct result of media criticism in his direction.
That’s the thing the far left will never understand about the right. As recently as a decade or so ago, you had about a 50-50 chance a Republican was going to back down after getting hammered by the left/media.
These days, those chances have decreased significantly – and not to the left’s advantage. While some of that is thanks to former President Donald Trump as well as the late conservative icon Andrew Breitbart, it’s also thanks to conservatives in general finally coming to the realization that one of the best ways to defeat the left (and their media allies) is by playing the game by the left’s rules and then using those rules and “standards” against them.
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