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MONDAY, NOVEMBER 23, 2009
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NEWS ABOUT: Clarence Thomas

Clarence Thomas stories: 13 news summaries

Justices Prepare for Newest 'Family Member'

In rare interviews, they discuss dynamics of Supreme Court shifts

Sep 4, 09 7:32 AM CDT
(Newser) - When Sonia Sotomayor takes the bench for the first time next week, the Supreme Court will never be the same—as justice after justice tells C-Span in a rare interview program, each new member transforms the court's composition. John Roberts says that he looks at the bench "like people... More »

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Samuel Alito • John Roberts • Ruth Bader Ginsburg • Sandra Day O'Connor • Clarence Thomas • US Supreme Court • Sonia Sotomayor

(AP) - An Arizona middle school's strip search of a teenage girl accused of having prescription-strength ibuprofen was illegal, the Supreme Court ruled today. School officials violated the law with their search of Savana Redding, the justices said in an 8-1 ruling. Redding, who now attends college, was 13 when school officials... More »

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Arizona • Ruth Bader Ginsburg • Constitution • John Paul Stevens • Fourth Amendment • strip search • Clarence Thomas • US Supreme Court • Savana Redding

ANALYSIS

Similar Lives Led Sotomayor, Thomas Down Different Paths

On and off the bench, they often work at cross-purposes

Jun 7, 09 11:29 AM CDT
(Newser) - The lives of Sonia Sotomayor and Clarence Thomas have parallels—humble beginnings, fatherless childhoods, Yale Law, affirmative action—but their conclusions are contrary. “For the first time, the Supreme Court would include two minority judges, but ones who stand at opposite poles of thinking about race, identity, and opportunity,... More »

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race • affirmative action • Clarence Thomas • US Supreme Court • ethnic diversity • Sonia Sotomayor

OPINION

Sotomayor:
Good Judge, Crappy Writer

Dry, plodding opinions could make her left's Clarence Thomas

Jun 4, 09 12:04 PM CDT
(Newser) - Sonia Sotomayor obviously has her talents, but “writing isn’t one of them,” writes Stephanie Mencimer in Mother Jones. “Sotomayor’s opinions read like she’s still following a formula she learned in college.” Whereas someone like Antonin Scalia wows with his airy and convincing prose,... More »

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Antonin Scalia • writing • Clarence Thomas • US Supreme Court • Sonia Sotomayor

(Newser) - The Supreme Court today put new limits on police officers' ability to search a car after an arrest, the Washington Post reports. The 5-4 ruling—with an unusual grouping of justices—says police need a warrant unless certain criteria apply, a break from the standard practice of about 30 years.... More »

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Antonin Scalia • Ruth Bader Ginsburg • John Paul Stevens • Clarence Thomas • US Supreme Court • constitutional law • David Souter • automobile • traffic stop • police search

analysis

Clarence Thomas
Strays From Righty Line

Slams Bush team, backs consumer protection in recent case

Mar 9, 09 9:12 AM CDT
(Newser) - Clarence Thomas might be the Supreme Court’s rightmost justice, but he’s “never been shy about breaking with conventional wisdom,” writes David G. Savage in the Los Angeles Times. In the latest such instance, he upheld injured patients’ right to sue drug companies, arguing that “agency... More »

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Antonin Scalia • Samuel Alito • John Roberts • medical marijuana • conservative • Clarence Thomas • US Supreme Court • liberal • justices • decision • Bill Maher Grid

 Court Readies
 Term's Testiest Decisions 

Justices will hand down 26 of the most contentious opinions beginning today

Jun 9, 08 8:49 AM CDT
(Newser) - The Supreme Court is poised to begin unveiling decisions today in some of the year's most heated cases, reports USA Today. As the term winds down, the 26 final opinions will be released on select days in June, and include clashes over Guantanamo detainees, DC's handgun ban, and the 1989... More »

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Antonin Scalia • Samuel Alito • John Roberts • Ruth Bader Ginsburg • Anthony Kennedy • Stephen Breyer • John Paul Stevens • Clarence Thomas • US Supreme Court • opinion • David Souter

Lethal Injection Ruling Will Spur Executions, Lawsuits

Pro-death states will waste no time; lawsuits likely in others

Apr 17, 08 10:42 AM CDT
(Newser) - Executions will resume in the United States, thanks to the Supreme Court’s ruling on lethal injection yesterday, but so will lawsuits, the New York Times reports. By condoning methods “substantially similar” to Kentucky’s, the court has invited more challenges. “We have left the states with... More »

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death penalty • John Roberts • Kentucky • lethal injection • cruel and unusual punishment • Clarence Thomas • Baze v. Rees • US Supreme Court

After 20 Years, Feds Crack
Hate Mail Case

Clarence Thomas among targets
of racist threats

Apr 11, 08 4:14 PM CDT
(Newser) - An Ohio man who authorities believe sent threatening communications to black and mixed-race recipients over the course of 20 years was indicted this week, the Plain Dealer reports. David Tuason, 46, threatened to blow up the US Supreme Court and kill Clarence Thomas in 2003 but eluded capture from the... More »

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race • FBI • hate crime • federal investigation • racism • Clarence Thomas • US Supreme Court • hate mail • David Tuason

Supreme Court Overturns La. Death Sentence

Blacks wrongly blocked from jury in case compared to OJ

Mar 20, 08 5:09 AM CDT
(Newser) - The Supreme Court has ordered a new trial for a former Marine awaiting execution on Louisiana's death row. Allen Snyder, an African-American, was convicted of fatally stabbing his estranged wife and her boyfriend, but the court ruled 7-2 that prosecutors acted improperly by using its challenges to seat an all-white... More »

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Antonin Scalia • Samuel Alito • John Roberts • Louisiana • capital punishment • Clarence Thomas • US Supreme Court • jury selection • Allen Snyder • Snyder v. Louisiana

OPINION

What Makes a Black Sellout?

New book defends Clarence Thomas, complicates race debate: Salon

Jan 21, 08 8:59 PM CST
(Newser) - A black intellectual's new book, Sellout: The Politics of Racial Betrayal, goes easy on Clarence Thomas for dissing the very affirmative action that helped him succeed, Salon's James Hannaham writes. Does that make Sellout author Randall Kennedy a sellout? Maybe Kennedy is able to do what free-thinking blacks must: "... More »

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race • African Americans • affirmative action • black • Clarence Thomas • orthodoxy • selling out

Ex-Thomas Clerk Says Critics Are Unfounded

Emphasizes justice's humanity, at-times liberal ideology

Oct 9, 07 10:47 AM CDT
(Newser) - A former clerk for Clarence Thomas lashes out at critical reaction to the justice's new autobiography in a Wall Street Journal commentary today. While liberals accuse Thomas of excessive bitterness over the grilling he received on his Supreme Court nomination, as well as subsequent unfairness, John Yoo points to a... More »

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Clarence Thomas • John Yoo • My Grandfather • US Supreme Court

Clarence Thomas Settles Scores

Book lashes out at media, liberal elites

Sep 29, 07 9:06 AM CDT
(Newser) - In a scathing new memoir, Justice Clarence Thomas unleashes his wrath upon those who afflicted him during his 1991 Senate confirmation hearings, calling them a "high-tech lynching" by "left-wing zealots draped in flowing sanctimony." The book, My Grandfather's Son, chronicles the Supreme Court justice's life from his... More »

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Anita Hill • Clarence Thomas • US Supreme Court

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