A great justice turns 77

June is the month when there is a great deal of focus on justices of the United States Supreme Court.

The court typically concludes its annual session and issues many of its important decisions as June comes to an end.

We need great men (and women) on the Court now as much as ever. A nation built and sustained on the rule of law continues to suffer the erosion of that cherished principle. A nation founded and furthered by faithful Christians has given up much public power to a degrading secularism.

This June, we should celebrate a great justice now well into his third decade on the court—a justice who has fought for the rule of law and a Founding vision of religion in public life. That justice is Clarence Thomas. Thomas was born on June 23, 1948, in Pinpoint near Savannah, Ga. He rose from poverty and obscurity to be the second African American to serve on the nation’s highest bench. That alone would place him prominently in the history books.

In his nearly 34 years on the court, Justice Thomas has advocated for constitutional fidelity, religious liberty, and a place for faith in the public square.

We should not be surprised at Justice Thomas’s perspective. His own character has been formed by two deep commitments—to his country’s founding principles and to his religious faith. He does not see the two as in tension with each other.

Regarding the rule of law, Justice Thomas has argued for our statutes to treat all equally regardless of the color of their skin. His arguments against affirmative action for a time seemed a valiant but losing effort. But with the Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard decision in 2023, Thomas finally seems to have gained a majority for a “colorblind” reading of the Constitution.

Nor should we see such reasoning as divorced from his Christian beliefs. He often likes to link his reading of equality under the law with the Declaration of Independence, in particular its assertion that “all men are created equal.” The equality of human beings as created by God, an equality that establishes a moral obligation enshrined in our Constitution, seems to reside at the core of Justice Thomas’s beliefs.

On religion in public life, Justice Thomas holds a broad and deep view of religious liberty. He consistently has voted to uphold the claims of the faithful against discrimination through public laws and public officials. This point especially holds true in equal funding for religious schools. Moreover, in the 2018 case involving Masterpiece Cakeshop, Justice Thomas wrote a concurring opinion that pointed to the Free Speech Clause as a source of protection for religious believers in addition to the Free Exercise Clause. That position would gain a majority, including Thomas, in the 2023 case 303 LLC v. Elenis.

Also on religion, Justice Thomas has fought a nearly solo battle to rethink the legally permitted role of religion in the public sphere. First, he has argued that, based on its own wording and American history, the Establishment Clause should not apply to the states. Instead, that clause should be read as banning both a nationally legislated religion as well as stopping national interference in state establishments. Given America’s history of state establishments and public religious pronouncements, this reading is much more consistent and coherent than other legal theories about religion in public life.

Justice Thomas also has demanded that the court take seriously the religious meaning of public displays of the Ten Commandments and crosses. In Van Orden v. Perry, Thomas argued against a view that permitted such displays merely as historical artifacts, which he said did not respect the genuinely religious meaning of displays like the Decalogue or the intent of their display. While respecting religious liberty, a broad ability to speak with religious arguments and language should exist now for Americans as it had throughout our history.

So, as we watch for the important Supreme Court decisions to come down this June, let us also celebrate the June birthday and the ongoing work of Justice Clarence Thomas. He remains a thoughtful, courageous, and vital defender of our Constitution and of the religious principles that both inform our laws and that should be protected by those laws.