Episode Details

Preorder Late Admissions: Confessions of a Black Conservative wherever you buy your books.

If you missed Wednesday’s City Journal and Manhattan Institute-hosted livestream, I’ve got you covered. Today I’m releasing the recording of that livestream as a special bonus episode. This event marked the publication of my City Journal essay “Clarence Thomas and Me,” and I had a stellar line-up alongside me to discuss the essay and the work of Clarence Thomas: Ilya Shapiro of the Manhattan Institute, Robert George of Princeton, and Randall Kennedy of Harvard Law School.

0:00 Introductions

2:58 Why Glenn wrote “Clarence Thomas and Me”

5:27 Randall: “Justice Thomas trades on his blackness”

10:58 Glenn: Clarence Thomas has not “betrayed black people”

12:30 Thomas’s engagement with natural law jurisprudence

19:29 How would Thomas have come down on Brown v. Board of Education?

20:55 The loyalty trap

24:20 Randall: Thomas’s originalism may also commit him to sanctioning segregation

28:24 Robbie: There are originalist interpretations that support Brown v. Board of Education

34:07 Thomas’s race cases

36:03 Glenn: Thomas can act as both a principled jurist and as an advocate for the rights of African Americans

40:56 Randall: In 100 years, people will regard Shelby County v. Holder as one of the worst decisions in the Court’s history

44:36 Maintaining integrity under pressure

51:22 What are the differences between Thomas’s, Scalia’s, and Alito’s originalisms?

55:30 Will Thomas have broader popularity in the future?

1:01:10 Is racial solidarity inconsistent with judicial impartiality?

1:03:30 Closing remarks

Recorded January 17, 2024

Links and Readings

Glenn’s City Journal essay, “Clarence Thomas and Me”

Glenn’s book, One by One from the Inside Out : Essays and Reviews on Race and Responsibility in America