Justice Clarence Thomas at Hillsdale College
by Ellis Washington
15 Aug. 2016
Throughout my youth, even as the contradiction of segregation persisted, we revered the ideals of our great nation. We knew, of course, that our country was flawed, as are all human institutions. But we also knew that our best hope lay in the ideal of liberty.
~ Justice Clarence Thomas
Justice Thomas Commencement Address at Hillsdale College
Prologue to a Prerequisite or Profundity?
Clarence Thomas, Associate Justice, United States Supreme Court, was invited to give a commencement address at Hillsdale College titled ‘Freedom and Obligation’ on May 14th. Having attended my share of these traditional events I wondered what could my friend and intellectual mentor say on this occasion that would be something these students and faculty hadn’t already heard before? I guess what I am really asking is originality a prerequisite to profundity? When discussing the oeuvre of Justice Clarence Thomas, the answer to that question would be a resounding, NO!
Here is his biographical information for Justice Thomas according to the reprint of his address reprinted in Hillsdale College publication Imprimis: Clarence Thomas is an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. Born in Pinpoint, Georgia, he is a graduate of the College of the Holy Cross and Yale Law School. Prior to his nomination to the Supreme Court in 1991, he served as an assistant attorney general of Missouri, an attorney with the Monsanto Company, a legislative assistant to U.S. Senator John Danforth, assistant secretary for civil rights at the U.S. Department of Education, chairman of the U.S. Equal Opportunity Commission, and a judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. In 2007, he published My Grandfather’s Son: A Memoir.
Even at a superficial level the text of Justice Thomas’s commencement address doesn’t reveal anything original or even revelatory, however he does touch upon many familiar themes we have come to cherish and adore hearing from Justice Thomas over the past 25 years he has been on the Supreme Court, which he expresses in his patently understated, firm and doctrinaire manner which makes his words indeed profound and revelatory.
Thomas on Friendship
For example, one of his commencement themes was Friendship expressed of course in very poignant terms due to the recent passing away (or as some like radio legend Dr. Michael Savage and myself say, ‘assassination’ or murder) of his dear friend and colleague on the Supreme Court, Justice Antonin Scalia. Thomas said:
Justice Thomas with Justice Scalia
Thomas on Patriotism and Religion
Another theme stated by Thomas which he mentions almost in an apologetic fashion is Patriotism and Religion which were “hallmarks of my youth” but today Thomas laments “seem more like outliers, if not afterthoughts.”
Throughout the Hillsdale speech I had the feeling that Thomas felt like an alien from another universe eventhough the Hillsdale audience was predisposed to Thomas’s constitutionalist views, (due to the excellent and rigorous education they received in U.S. history and the U.S. constitution), nevertheless Thomas repeatedly expressed that “I feel woefully out of place speaking at commencement ceremonies. My words will perhaps seem somewhat vintage in character rather than current or up-to-date.” However, Thomas did not linger upon what I call his existential angst, but reaffirmed his Natural law and Natural Rights jurisprudence 25 years ago when he made a sacred oath to the Supreme Court on the Bible to uphold, saying— “In that context, I admit to being unapologetically Catholic, unapologetically patriotic, and unapologetically a constitutionalist.”
Thomas on Family
Another theme Thomas cited was Family, particularly being raised by his grandparents in a small rural farming town of Pin Point, Georgia near Savannah. Thomas said, “In a broader context, we were obligated in our neighborhood to be good neighbors so that the neighborhood would thrive. Whether there was to be a clean, thriving neighborhood was directly connected to our efforts. So there was always, to our way of thinking, a connection between the things we valued most and our personal obligations or efforts.”
Continuing his theme on Family, Thomas affirmed that “There could be no freedom without each of us discharging our responsibilities. When we heard the words duty, honor, and country, no more needed to be said. But that is a bygone era. Today, we rarely hear of our personal responsibilities in discussions of broad notions such as freedom or liberty. It is as though freedom and liberty exist wholly independent of anything we do, as if they are predestined.”
Thomas on Natural Law and Natural Rights
In my opinion his most enduring theme was when he discussed Natural Law and Natural Rights. These two political philosophies (ignored today by the Progressive-dominated Academy) were the bedrock of the constitutional Framers as they crafted the rule of law that would undergird America’s Republic and govern all its laws. Recall that Natural Law functions under transcendent principles mandating an inseparability of legality and morality. In other words, “Law ultimately owes its validity to God or to a higher moral reason, so anything which contravenes this higher order cannot be said to be law.” Justice Thomas Natural Law jurisprudence believes that “Law exits independently of the individual or collective will, and thus is created by neither.” Thomas has stated that Natural Law is “Higher Law” whose authority is even above the President, Congress and the Judiciary itself.
Restating the importance of Natural Rights Thomas said, “Being at Hillsdale College, it is appropriate that we should reflect briefly on our ancestors’ understanding of what was to be earned and preserved. America’s Founders and many successive generations believed in natural rights. To establish a government based on the consent of the governed, as the Declaration of Independence makes clear, they gave up only that portion of their rights necessary to create a limited government of the kind needed to secure all of their rights.”
He continued, “The Founders then structured that government so that it could not jeopardize the liberty that flowed from natural rights. Even though this liberty is inherent, it is not guaranteed. Indeed, the founding documents of our country are an assertion of this liberty against the King of England—arguably the most powerful man in the world at the time—at the risk of the Founders’ lives, fortunes, and sacred honor. Over the lifespan of our great country, many occasions have arisen that required this liberty, and the form of government that ensures it, to be defended if it was to survive.”
Thomas on Education
The necessity of obtaining a quality and comprehensive Education was another theme Thomas spoke of saying that, “Throughout my youth, even as the contradiction of segregation persisted, we revered the ideals of our great nation. We knew, of course, that our country was flawed, as are all human institutions. But we also knew that our best hope lay in the ideal of liberty.” In a Freudian sense, Thomas seemed to be going back in time to his formative years right on stage when he stated with such dogmatic clarity and realism that, “I watched with anguish as so many of the older people in my life groped and stumbled through the darkness of near or total illiteracy.”
However, not everyone in America is literate, thus this paradox vexed Thomas as a youth. “Yet they desperately wanted to learn and gain knowledge, and they understood implicitly how important it was to enjoy the fullness of American citizenship,” Thomas stated. It was as if he made a sacred vow to himself on that auspicious day. ‘Illiteracy may have happened to you, but I’ll be damned if illiteracy will happen to me.’ Thomas, with a degree of aloofness then concluded his thought on this theme: “They had spent an aggregation of lifetimes standing on the edge of the dual citizenship that is at the heart of the 14th Amendment.”
Citing an earlier generation of the 1930s and 40s Thomas brought to mind the existential battles between Freedom vs. Fascism, saying that “During the Second World War, they were willing to fight for the right to die on foreign soil to defend their country, even as their patriotic love went unreciprocated.” If the World War II Generation hadn’t answered the call to combat Nazi Socialism then the entire world would have been mired under a Nazi Weltanschauung (worldview). This evil worldview is the existential enemy of all good education, knowledge and Veritas (truth). In other words, if Hitler and the Nazis has completed their fascist experiment upon the world, you and I would likely have had our skins turned into lampshades, our bodies into soap, and hair, teeth and internal organs sold to the highest bidder. The World War II generation stood strong for the Ages as “They returned from that horrific war with dignity to face the indignity of discrimination. Yet the desire persisted to push our nation to live up to its ideals,” Thomas declared.
Thomas then combined two themes in the following passage regarding Education and Family saying,
“I often wondered why my grandparents remained such model citizens, even when our country’s failures were so obvious. In the arrogance of my early adult life, I challenged my grandfather and doubted America’s ideals. He bluntly asked: “So, where else would you live?” Though not a lettered man, he knew that our constitutional ideals remained our best hope, and that we should work to achieve them rather than undermine them. “Son,” he said, “don’t throw the baby out with the bath water.” That is, don’t discard what is precious along with what is tainted.
Speaking in very lofty terms of the admiration Thomas had towards his grandfather, he said, “Today, when it seems that grievance rather than responsibility is the main means of elevation, my grandfather’s beliefs may sound odd or discordant. But he and others like him at the time resolved to conduct themselves in a way consistent with America’s ideals. They were law-abiding, hardworking, and disciplined. They discharged their responsibilities to their families and neighbors as best they could. They taught us that despite unfair treatment, we were to be good citizens and good people.”
Thomas spoke a fitting and poignant epitaph for his grandfather, stating:
“Shortly before his death in 1983, I sought my grandfather’s advice about how to weather the first wave of harsh criticism directed at me, which I admit had somewhat unnerved me. His response was simple: “Son, you have to stand up for what you believe in.” To him, that was my obligation, my duty. Perhaps it is at times like that—when you lack strength and courage—that the clarity of our obligation supplies both: duty, honor, country.”
Like Thomas I was in a sense raise by my grandfather whom I was named after (Ellis), and though he died when I was only 11, I still remember many of the life lessons Thomas learned from his grandfather like his giving spirit and the LOVE.
Would to God that more people in America would link themselves to the wisdom of our seniors before they are gone from us forever and another generation is lost. Thomas did this simple task and look how intellectually rich and successful his life has become because of this.
Thomas on Rights vs. Duties
Rights vs. Duties was another them of Thomas’s speech. “As I admitted at the outset, I am of a different time. I knew no one, for example, who was surprised at President Kennedy’s famous exhortation in his 1961 Inaugural Address: “Ask not what your country can do for you—ask what you can do for your country.” That sentiment was as common as saying the Pledge of Allegiance or singing the National Anthem, as pervasive as shopping at Army-Navy surplus stores. Today there is much more focus on our rights and on what we are owed, and much less on our obligations and duties—unless, of course, it is about our duty to submit to some new proposed policy,” Thomas affirmed.
Thomas on Economics
“My grandfather often reminded us that if we didn’t work, we didn’t eat, and that if we didn’t plant, we couldn’t harvest. There is always a relationship between responsibilities and benefits. In agrarian societies, that is more obvious. As society becomes more complex and specialized, it is more difficult to discern,” Thomas said, then shifting to a modern theme everyone could identify with—economics Thomas said, “But it is equally true. If you continue to run up charges on your credit card, at some point you reach your credit limit. If you continue to make withdrawals from your savings account, you eventually deplete your funds. Likewise, if we continue to consume the benefits of a free society without replenishing or nourishing that society, we will eventually deplete that as well. If we are content to let others do the work of replenishing and defending liberty while we consume the benefits, we will someday run out of other people’s willingness to sacrifice—or even out of courageous people willing to make the sacrifice.”
However, politicians today could care less about balancing the budget and making America live within its means. We have been warned by history (the Great Depression of October 1929) and by that great Boston University Economist, Professor Laurence J. Kotlikoff who warned U.S. that the debt isn’t $19 trillion, but including “unfunded mandates” the U.S. debt is over $225 TRILLION! Nevertheless, today its print all the money you can while you can, saddle our grandchildren and our unborn great-grandchildren with hundreds of trillions in debt, and go to our graves in peace…? NOT!
Epilogue: Thomas on Life’s Lessons
Thomas concludes with several short stories from his youth combining all his themes I’ll call ‘Life’s Lessons’. Thomas said,
As the years have moved swiftly by, I have often reflected on the important citizenship lessons of my life. For the most part, it was the unplanned array of small things. There was the kind gesture from a neighbor. There was my grandmother dividing our dinner because someone showed up unannounced. There was the stranger stopping to help us get our crops out of the field before a big storm. There were the nuns who believed in us and lived in our neighborhood. There was the librarian who brought books to Mass so that I would not be without reading on the farm. Small gestures such as these become large lessons about how to live our lives. We watched and learned what it means to be a good person, a good neighbor, a good citizen. Who will be watching you? And what will you be teaching them?
Not content to let his commencement address devolve into a string of feel good platitudes and euphemisms, Thomas implored his Hillsdale audience to put theory into practice:
After this commencement ceremony ends, I implore you to take a few minutes to thank those who made it possible for you to come this far—your parents, your teachers, your pastor. These are the people who have shown you how to sacrifice for those you love, even when that sacrifice is not always appreciated. As you go through life, try to be a person whose actions teach others how to be better people and better citizens. Reach out to the shy person who is not so popular. Stand up for others when they’re being treated unfairly. Take the time to listen to the friend who’s having a difficult time. Do not hide your faith and your beliefs under a bushel basket, especially in this world that seems to have gone mad with political correctness. Treat others the way you would like to be treated if you stood in their shoes.
For those who attended Thomas’s Hillsdale address and to those who are reading these lines about Thomas words, this legendary jurist admonishes us and U.S. to use “These small lessons become the unplanned syllabus for learning citizenship, and your efforts to live them will help to form the fabric of a civil society and a free and prosperous nation where inherent equality and liberty are inviolable.”
Why, you may ask am I called upon to do such a gargantuan task as to enlighten and educate my fellow American citizens to be better Citizens and Statesmen. “The men and women of Hillsdale College, a school that has stood fast on its principles and its traditions at great sacrifice. If you don’t lead by example, who will?” are the cryptic last words of Thomas Hillsdale address reminiscent of the dialectical reasoning of Socrates and his most famous students, Plato, who taught Aristotle who taught Alexander the Great whose legendary armies spread by militarism and the sword.
Nevertheless, what Socrates, Plato, Aristotle and by extension Justice Thomas has given U.S. in modern times through wise philosophy, can be summarized in the words on another great Natural Law philosopher of antiquity named Saint Augustine of Hippo (345-430) whose words were borrowed and incorporated many times down through the ages including by Catholic theologian Saint Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) and civil rights icon, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968).
These were the same transcendent words last year I put in the dedication to Justice Thomas of my 4 Volume collection of essays, Socratic dialogues and academic manuscripts titled—The Progressive Revolution (2013, 2015, University Press of America.) *N.B.: Volume 5 will be published later this year.
Lex iniusta non est lex. –Translation: An unjust law is no law at all.
Category: Commentary
