There has been a lot of talk lately about the life and jusrisprudence of Justice Clarence Thomas. Kevin Merida and Michael Fletcher discuss at length the experiences that molded Justice Thomas into the most predictable justices the court has seen in quite some time. Even though he says the least, Justice Thomas can always be counted on to vote against discrimination protection and governmental intrusion. Most recently, The New York Times wrote about the book and Justice Thomas here. Very interesting stuff.

Even though Justice Scalia adheres to precedent somewhat religiously, he has still ventured into the realm of his own beliefs in important cases. Scalia has argued against but upheld some legislation that he viewed as unconstitutional based on precedent but Justice Thomas has proven to vote for the things that he views are best for the country almost invariably.

Justice Thomas is young (58) so we are likely to see him on the court for at least another 20 years if he doesn’t decide to quit earlier. I’ve heard a few grumblings around the internet about how unhappy his is on the court, but its hard to imagine that he would quit anytime soon but as we all know, Supreme Court justices can sometimes act in mysterious ways.

Update: I just realized that I almost never see caricatures of the justices. What would Robert’s caricature look like? Who can name each of the justices? I hope everyone can…

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• Which Justice Is The Most Talkative? (November 8, 2007)
• Unity Defined (June 11, 2007)
• The In Vogue Word Of The Day: Stare Decisis (June 28, 2007)