Posted on 04/18/2021 3:37:47 PM PDT by thefactor
I think this is a nice topic for Sunday evening, and some of you may find it interesting.
In October 2020 I wrote Justice Thomas a note after I completed his book. I was unaware of his struggles growing up, and I expressed my thanks to him for his continuing efforts in supporting the Constitution. I also asked him for some reading recommendations.
I recently received a lovely handwritten note from the Justice himself. Here are his recommendations:
"A Conflict of Visions" by Sowell, "The Tempting of America" by Bork, "Cynical Theories" by Pluckrose and Lindsay, and any book by Paul Johnson. Justice Thomas said he is currently re-reading Johnson's "Modern Times".
Needless to say I was thrilled to receive such a thoughtful response from Justice Thomas and I will be framing this correspondence. In my humble opinion, Clarence Thomas is a living legend.
Wow! That’s amazing!
I'm disappointed by the Justice.
See my review of Paul Johnson's History of the American People.
ML/NJ
I would have asked him about drag racing. He has attended quite a few of those NHRA events.
I have read all of the posts here on Justice Thomas and I wonder where all of the posts are from the white supremacists? Maybe the number ain’t as yuge as the commies would have us think.
Awesome!!!
Wow! I loved that book by Johnson. Have read it several times. Have also read his History of the Jews and his history of England.
Super cool
Fabulous! So happy for you. Thanks for sharing.
His wife is from Omaha and he visits city regularly to teach at Creighton Law School or attend a Nebraska football game. The city has adopted him.
My Grandfather’s Son. Wonderful book.
I had my 15 year old grandson watch Created Equal, the documentary on his life that was ultimately pulled from Amazon Prime. Also terrific if you can find it.
He is my favorite Justice.
I met him at a FReeper occasion during the late Clinton years. He was so nice and friendly to “we plain people”. I can still see that experience in my mind and his friendly smile.
What an honor!
Thank you for sharing.
I agree...Justice Thomas IS a living legend....and, a national treasure.
Made my day! Thank you for writing him, and for letting us know that he wrote back, with his reading recommendations! Superb! Congratulations!
JUSTICE THOMAS, concurring.
The Court today properly concludes that the Commerce Clause does not grant Congress the authority to prohibit gun possession within 1,000 feet of a school, as it attempted to do in the Gun-Free School Zones Act of 1990, Pub. L. 101-647, 104 Stat. 4844. Although I join the majority, I write separately to observe that our case law has drifted far from the original understanding of the Commerce Clause. In a future case, we ought to temper our Commerce Clause jurisprudence in a manner that both makes sense of our more recent case law and is more faithful to the original understanding of that Clause....
While the principal dissent concedes that there are limits to federal power, the sweeping nature of our current test enables the dissent to argue that Congress can regulate gun possession. But it seems to me that the power to regulate "commerce" can by no means encompass authority over mere gun possession, any more than it empowers the Federal Government to regulate marriage, littering, or cruelty to animals, throughout the 50 States. Our Constitution quite properly leaves such matters to the individual States, notwithstanding these activities' effects on interstate commerce. Any interpretation of the Commerce Clause that even suggests that Congress could regulate such matters is in need of reexamination.
In an appropriate case, I believe that we must further reconsider our "substantial effects" test with an eye toward constructing a standard that reflects the text and history of the Commerce Clause without totally rejecting our more recent Commerce Clause jurisprudence.
Today, however, I merely support the Court's conclusion with a discussion of the text, structure, and history of the Commerce Clause and an analysis of our early case law. My goal is simply to show how far we have departed from the original understanding and to demonstrate that the result we reach today is by no means "radical," see post, at 1 (STEVENS, J., dissenting). I also want to point out the necessity of refashioning a coherent test that does not tend to "obliterate the distinction between what is national and what is local and create a completely centralized government." Jones & Laughlin Steel Corp, supra, at 37.
Mine, too. I really wish we had more like him.
YOU LUCKY DOG!!
Looks like Justice Thomas has been looking through my library.
One correction: Skip “To Hell with Picasso” by Johnson. It is a collection of obnoxious articles that have a much more PC bent that most of his other writing.
If you don’t feel like tackling the “Modern” tomes of his, I’d recommend, “Intellectuals” and “Enemies of Society.”
The first is a must-read and provides a close, historic, behind-the-scenes look at the intellectuals most responsible for this decrepit postmodern, socialist hell we are suffering through.
Bttt.
5.56mm
It does, because it shows that somebody on that high bench is paying attention to the rational citizenry’s appreciation.
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