Speaking Thomas

Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas has not spoken during oral arguments since 2006, but he is a popular speaker outside the courtroom. The Federalist Society invited him to deliver the keynote address at its annual student symposium, hosted this year by the University of Virginia School of Law. Holly Vradenburgh, a student at the University of Virginia School of Law, was there.

Walking into the Boar's Head Inn in Charlottesville, Va., I was curious to discover what the man known for his silence would communicate. Swarms of law students, professors, lawyers, judges, and others from the community mingled alongside me, ready to be seated in the main dining hall or across the street in the overflow room. We laughed and talked politely amongst ourselves, but every one of us was there to hear Thomas, and we offered no other pretext.

Unfortunately, I can't tell you what he said. There was a media ban on Justice Thomas's comments. But I can tell you what I learned about him, things you aren't likely to learn from news reports of Supreme Court cases.

The first thing I heard from Justice Thomas was his laughter. It is boisterous, contagious, and, at several points throughout the dinner preceding the speech, made its way across the room to my table. I wondered what it must be like for the Justice's family and friends to witness the media characterizing him for his silence when they must surely know him for his laughter.

I also heard boldness from Justice Thomas. As he fielded questions from the audience and moderators, the grey-haired judge spoke his mind without adjusting his vocabulary to suit popular paradigms. In fact, Thomas seemed more than happy to take the road less traveled-a metaphor he claims embodies his personal and professional life. And while it is easy to impress a friendly audience, Thomas frequently boldly stands alone on the court.

If C.S. Lewis was a dinosaur in his field, Thomas is certainly a dinosaur in law. He thinks the Commerce Clause is restricted to commerce, that the liberty clause of the Fourteenth Amendment is not a talisman for discovering faddish rights, and that Fourth Amendment protection involves more than preventing illegally obtained evidence from convicting criminal defendants. These are views that are so outside the mainstream that they are not even refuted in most of my law classes-they are either ignored or ridiculed-yet Thomas is not afraid to stand by them. That is boldness.

The audience contained some of Thomas' former law clerks and his love for them and delight in their subsequent success was unmistakable. His love for his wife was clear in the way he looked at her from the podium, spoke glowingly of her friendship, and, of course, consistently referred to her as "his bride," as though still lost in the wonder of his wedding day.

But most evident was his love for the United States, its courts, and its Constitution. I was reminded throughout his speech that the Constitution is not tired and worn, nor something to be discarded at will: it is ours-ours to protect, love, and defend. Imperfect though it may be, it is part of our identity as Americans and when we callously amputate certain provisions and artificially engorge others, we threaten its health and risk damage to our entire country. Thomas loves America by loving its Constitution.

Justice Thomas has this Martin Luther King Jr. quote hanging in his chambers: "In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends." Although the media will continue to buzz about Thomas' iconic refusal to argue on the bench, it is a tiny part of the life of Clarence Thomas. In the end, none of his friends will remember him for his silence.