Free Republic

Fans of the Christmas classic "It’s a Wonderful Life" are livid over Amazon's abridged version of the movie on its streaming service. The 1946 hit film, which follows the life of businessman and banker George Bailey, sparked outrage after Amazon cut a pivotal portion. Amazon's abridged version doesn't include what many consider "the most important scene," known as the "Pottersville scene," in which George wishes he had never been born, prompting his guardian angel to remind him that he needs to earn "his angel wings." Outraged fans said the scene sets up the rest of the movie and, without it,...

Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas tackled a question in his presidential immunity opinion Monday that Donald Trump’s attorneys didn’t bring before the nation’s highest court: Was special counsel Jack Smith legally appointed? Thomas joined his fellow conservative justices on a blockbuster majority opinion that expanded the definition of presidential powers and narrowed the scope of Trump’s D.C. election interference trial. He also wrote a concurring opinion that delved into the separate question of whether Attorney General Merrick Garland violated the Constitution when he appointed Smith in November 2022 to oversee the two federal prosecutions of Trump.

By merely asking for examples, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas calmly destroyed respondents’ argument for disqualifying former President Donald Trump from Colorado’s 2024 presidential primary ballot. The moment came on Thursday morning, during oral arguments on Trump’s appeal to overturn the Colorado Supreme Court’s Dec. 19 decision to keep him off the Centennial State’s 2024 primary ballot. Colorado’s highest court claimed in its ruling that the former president can be “disqualified” from holding office under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, which stipulates that “[n]o person” who has previously sworn an oath as an officer of the United States...

In late August, amid a rising outcry over revelations that Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas had received decades of undisclosed gifts and free luxury travel, a lawyer in Chicago fired off an email to her fellow former Thomas clerks. “Many of us have been asked recently about the justice,” wrote the lawyer, Taylor Meehan. “In response, there’s not always the opportunity to tell his story and share what it was like to work for him. And there’s rarely the opportunity for us to do so all together.” Meehan attached a letter in support of Thomas. Minutes later came a reply....

George Washington University will not fire Supreme Court justice Clarence Thomas, an adjunct professor at its law school, amid left-wing cries on the internet for his termination after the overturning of Roe v. Wade. "Because we steadfastly support the robust exchange of ideas and deliberation, and because debate is a central part of our university’s academic and educational mission to train future leaders who are prepared to address the world’s most urgent problems," a letter addressed to its students states, "the university will neither terminate Justice Thomas’s employment nor cancel his class in response to his legal opinions." The move...

Hillary Clinton invokes racist trope to attack Supreme Court's only black justice Journalists and other Democrats are waging another racially charged assault on a prominent black conservative. When Sen. Tim Scott (R., S.C.) delivered the GOP response to President Joe Biden's congressional address in April 2021, liberals denounced the historic black senator, using racist tropes such as "Uncle Tim." One Democratic analyst called Scott a "clown" whose "ancestors are ashamed of him." The Washington Post published an investigation implying that Scott's grandfather—raised on a farm in South Carolina during the Great Depression—was actually a child of privilege. Following the Supreme...

In this excerpt from the just-published “Created Equal: Clarence Thomas in His Own Words” by Michael Pack and Mark Paoletta, the Supreme Court justice reflects on changes in his hometown, Savannah, Ga. The book is based on more than 30 hours of interviews Pack conducted with Thomas and his wife Ginni for the film of the same name; 95% of the book’s material is new, including this excerpt. Michael Pack: You have talked a little today about how life in the black community has not been improved by many well-intentioned social programs. Do you think, in some sense, it is...

We think of It's a Wonderful Life as a great American movie, a great Jimmy Stewart movie, a great Frank Capra movie — and, of course, as a great Christmas movie. We don't think of it as a great Italian-American movie. But we should, especially at Christmastime, when Italian-Americans — of Capra's generation and beyond — can be heard in every shop and restaurant singing many of the songs that define the season. Capra was born in Sicily, and at age 6 moved to Los Angeles. It's a Wonderful Life is spiced with subtle but significant references to his fellow...

The new Smithsonian National Museum of African-American History and Culture treats conservative Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas like a mere footnote while heralding the woman who accused him of sexual harassment, Anita Hill. Twenty-five years ago, Thomas became the second black Supreme Court Justice when he succeeded Thurgood Marshall, the first black justice. Neither man's accomplishments as jurists on the high court get as much attention as Hill, though Marshall's work on a landmark case as a lawyer is recognized.

On a day that marked the first time in 10 years that Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas uttered a single word from the bench, the British-based tabloid Daily Mail mocked Thomas’s rare inquest in a vile headline: “IT SPEAKS! Justice Clarence Thomas asks a question in court for the first time in 10 YEARS in gun case .” Associate Justice Thomas questioned a government lawyer in a case to determine whether those guilty of committing domestic violence can lawfully have their Constitutional right to possess firearms restricted. Thomas asked the lawyer to list an instance when a “misdemeanor violation suspends...

... Abramson recently learned her pay package was not commensurate with that of her predecessor, Bill Keller, and sought parity... “‘She confronted the top brass,’ one close associate said, and this may have fed into the management’s narrative that she was ‘pushy,’ a characterization that, for many, has an inescapably gendered aspect.” [Publisher Arthur] Sulzberger is known to believe that the Times, as a financially beleaguered newspaper, needed to retreat on some of its generous pay and pension benefits ...

Meet Ryan Patrick Winkler. He's a 37-year-old liberal Minnesota state legislator with a B.A. in history from Harvard University and a J.D. from the University of Minnesota Law School. He's also a coward, a bigot, a liar and a textbook example of plantation progressivism. On Tuesday, Winkler took to Twitter to rant about the Supreme Court's decision to strike down an onerous section of the Voting Rights Act. The 5-4 ruling overturned an unconstitutional requirement that states win federal preclearance approval of any changes to their election laws and procedures. Winkler fumed: "VRA majority is four accomplices to race discrimination...

Rationed health care is already hereBy Clarence Page Published online 8/7/2009 10:15 PM "Rationing" is one of the scariest words in the current health care debate. It conjures up apocalyptic nightmare images from "Soylent Green," the sci-fi thriller about a future in which the old and weak are quietly lured into early extinction for the sake of future generations. What the scaremongers don't like to talk about is how much our private insurers ration now - mostly for the sake of their own profits. They're clever enough to avoid using the R-word. They use other words, like "Read the fine...

Apparently being dirt poor is only a virtue if you are a Democrat!Shortly after President Obama announced his nomination of Sonia Sotomayer to fill the Supreme Court vacancy left by retiring Justice Souter the "news" media chirped in cheerful chorus the line about Sotomayor's "compelling life story." With all the gushing going on in the liberal media over Sotomayor's modest upbringing it's no wonder they didn't find the time to explore her background and inform readers and viewers about Sotomayor's controversial views and decisions. Conservatives may recall how the "news" media ignored the dirt poor story of Clarence Thomas or...

New York state police say a 50-passenger commuter plane has crashed into a home in suburban Buffalo. State Trooper John Manthey says the plane hit a house in Clarence around 10:10 p.m. Thursday. The house is engulfed in flames.

An American Odyssey In his autobiography, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas shares about being forced to work every day after elementary school in the fields of his grandfather's farm. His grandfather, who raised him had a strict work ethic. Thomas' memoir is titled, “My Grandfather's Son”. Imagine it's early 1950s. You're driving down the highway on a hot summer day. In the corner of your eye as part of the landscape, you see a dirty, sweaty and barefooted little black boy picking cotton. In your wildest dreams, could you anticipate that this kid would become one of the most...

U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Clarence Thomas delivered remarks in Omaha on Friday night that barely touched on the political and constitutional issues of the day, but instead focused on character and the lessons a person can learn from setbacks. Thomas' speech was brief — about five minutes. He spent most of his time fielding questions from the audience of more than 500 people at the Hilton Omaha, 1001 Cass St. Thomas was in town to discuss his recently released memoir, "My Grandfather's Son." The book details his life with his mother's father, Myers Anderson, whom he went to live...

Event details Friday, October 19, 2007 6:30 p.m. Reception 7:00 p.m. Remarks Hilton Omaha 1001 Cass Street Omaha, NE 68102 Contact Emily Davis at The Heritage Foundation: Phone: (202) 608-1524 E-mail: specialevents@heritage.org

"I wept beyond tears, slipping into the barren, rhythmic heaves of a body seeking something more." The poetic words of inconsolable grief were penned by Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas in his newly released memoir, My Grandfather's Son. In this moving passage, he describes his agony in the days following the death of the man that came to be "Daddy". The book is filled with magnificent prose in which one of the most powerful men in America repeatedly dares to bare his soul - dares to make himself vulnerable to the cold, hard world of cynics in which we live....

Awaiting INFAMOUS Interview on LRushbo's Radio Show ...... Monday, Oct. 1st, 2007. Quote from King LRushbo, "He's going to be in the second and third hour. It's going to be the first 90-minute interview we've ever done with anybody. I taped it after the program yesterday because the first day of the new term of the Supreme Court is on Monday, and he couldn't make it live".