I’d rather watch Justice Clarence Thomas give a speech about the greatness of Abraham Lincoln. Fortunately, Justice Thomas gave a wonderful speech on just that subject two weeks ago at Washington and Lee University–and in the Lee Chapel no less. (Think about that: Justice Thomas praising President Lincoln in a chapel named for General Lee in Virginia. A nice moment.)
I was there for the speech, which was truly riveting, and kicked off a superb conference devoted to Lincoln, with panels the next day featuring distinguished Lincoln scholars. It was all organized by Professor Lucas Morel of Washington and Lee. To my friend Lucas I say, get all those excellent papers together into a book, and use Justice Thomas’s speech as the introduction. I’d buy it!