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I hadn’t realized that what Tex was saying was from two different years/transcripts, which was what confused me.

Having read both those transcripts now, those hearings were night-and-day different, I think mostly because of the presence of Rep Lee, who practically called SCOTUS racists who have made decisions to make sure nobody but white Harvard and Yale grads ever clerk for them. I think Serrano was trying to mitigate the fallout from that, and that’s where this exchange actually came in - trying to transition from Thomas saying the court does its best and just needs good people who are willing to hash things out fairly, to a place where SCOTUS was once again shown respect. He did that by saying that even though most people from Sotomayor’s culture had no clue what SCOTUS or Congress really do in their work, they honor the importance of what is done, so even though Thomas might feel the struggle is humbling it is also recognized as very important.

Seemed like he was synthesizing several different thought streams, but mostly Sotomayor’s “humble” origins and how they tied in with what Thomas had said about having to grapple through things being a humbling experience.

Serrano noted Thomas being OK with somebody becoming a SCOTUS justice who had never been a judge (which applied to Sotomayor) and Thomas added that a person doesn’t have to be born in the US either, to be a SCOTUS justice (which also applied to Sotomayor).

That’s when Serrano brought up that Thomas could say that about judges but wouldn’t ever say what about POTUS. And of course Thomas’ statement that they were evading that issue but that they were definitely letting him know he could be a SCOTUS justice anyway.

Interesting discussion as to why SCOTUS doesn’t accept as many cases as they used to; Thomas would like them to hear more and has an undisclosed theory as to why the number has declined. The other judge implied it was because they didn’t have decisions they needed to overturn, but that argument seems bad to me because it implies that SCOTUS would only take up cases they had already decided they were going to overturn.

Also interesting discussion on how the justices hash it out amongst themselves how they will or won’t come up with the votes to grant certiorari or a stay of execution. That discussion seemed supportive of the scenario you presented, Red Steel - where they knew where each other stood and factored it into their own vote on whether to hear a case.

That exchange was out of character for the rest of the hearing, which was also definitely more uncomfortable than the 2008 hearing. I’m sure part of that was dealing with the accusations thrown out there by Rep Lee. I think the Obama presidency has done more to hurt race relations than anything in modern history. But that’s another issue.

In the end, what we know is that Thomas said they are evading the issue of whether someone has to be born in the USA to be eligible as POTUS, even as they welcome someone born in Puerto Rico as SCOTUS justice.