Clarence Thomas, an American Justice

I first met Justice Clarence Thomas in June 1992, at the end of his first year on the Supreme Court. He was interviewing me, a 25-year-old fresh out of law school, for a clerkship job. He found me to have strong opinions and little experience. Revealing an early wisdom, he hired someone else. Displaying his generosity, he changed his mind a year later.

The interview remains indelible in my memory, as meetings with Justice Thomas probably do for most everyone. I was expecting a grilling about interpretive theories, the importance (or not) of past decisions, or his early opinions and speeches — through which he had already made a mark in demanding a return to the natural rights of the Declaration of Independence. I even thought he might raise the injustices of his bruising 1991 confirmation hearings.