Let’s not discuss his point of view. No doubt he is a conservative.
But what about his intelligence and writing ability? From what I’ve read via MSM he’s not bright enough to be Chief Justice. Is this true, or just a smear?
What is MSM?
Anyway, the above is just a smear – a given person’s intelligence is wide open to opinion, and strongly resists exacting quantitative analysis. Even a recent IQ test wouldn’t be even close to the last word.
My first thought is this: if someone is intelligent enough to sit on the SC, how would they not be “intelligent” enough to be Chief Justice?
There’s an interesting phenomenon that strikes me as subliminally racist – both Thurgood Marshall, very strongly liberal, and Clarence Thomas, Scalia conservative, are generally classed as not particularly scholarly or effective justices, good more for firming up a majority than for their jurisprudential contributions. I find this rather disturbing, but I don’t know in depth the writings of the two men to adjudge it as a fair assessment or not. But the fact that both black justices, polar opposites in philosophy and in political outlook, are both classed this way, concerns me.
For what it’s worth, I’ve met the man (used to go to the same church) and he came across as very intelligent and witty.
I’m trying to remember the last time there was a major ruling from the Supreme Court where Thomas’ decision wasn’t just Scallia’s decision with a “me too” stuck on the end.
I also find it somewhat disturbing that Thomas is so firmly against affirmative action, when he was a clear beneficiary of it.
I’ve always been a bit suspect of his silence during the presentation of cases at the Court. He rarely, if ever, asks questions or makes comments. Strikes me as odd.
IIRC, it’s always been his contention that the oral arguments are worthless and that the cases should be made in the briefs submitted. That’s why he rarely, if ever, asks questions.
Zev Steinhardt
Mainstream media.
(I’d never seen that that acronym before)
In that case, your OP is squarely based on an opinion. What have you been reading? Is there something you can cite offhand that will give us something to sink our teeth into?
Could someone have read what you read and got a different impression? Or were they the kinds of articles where the writer basically says up front that “Thomas is not bright.”?
Y’all talk like the Chief Justice has more power therefore should be more intelligent. All the CJ is, is an administrator.
He only has one vote just like the rest of the justices.
His carries no more weight.
I wouldn’t say that. I’d just say they never seemed particularly exceptional at writing opinions for the court. I’m sure both Thomas and Marshall are and were intelligent justices.
It seems to me that Scalia is the intellectual leader, and Thomas is the sidekick. It was pretty much the same thing with Brennan and Marshall, except that dynamic duo were liberals.
Call me, uh, unsurprised. David Garrow, writing in the New Republic, found that Thomas and Scalia agreed on only 73% of the decisions in the 2003-4 term, not that large a number considering how similar their judicial views are (Thomas leans more heavily than Scalia toward original intent, something much discussed during his confirmation hearings). Six pairs of Justices agreed more often. Among “major rulings” from that term alone, Justices Scalia and Thomas came down on different sides in Hamdi v. Rumsfeld (Thomas dissenting, alone) and Ashcroft v. ACLU (Scalia dissenting with Breyer, O’Connor and Rhenquist).
IANAL, but my impression is that Marshall’s history-making triumph in Brown vs. Board set the bar pretty high for his performance as a justice.
To draw a parallel, imagine if Michael Jordan’s performance on the baseball diamond had actually been pretty good – it would have still been rated as a letdown.
I will refrain from commenting on Thomas: the political machinations surrounding his controversial appointment and confirmation make it tough (for me, at least) to sort out his true level of merit from the opinions of his supporters and his detractors.
I think you may be taking this a lot more seriously than I am. My OP is what it is. It isn’t worth this kind of parsing. It was just a question.