Right Wing News

John Hawkins has his Third Annual 2004 Warblogger Award results posted. I was asked to contribute but was too late in submitting my ratings. However, many of the choices were my choices as well.

Additional, John submits his opinion on the remarks made by Senator Harry Reid (D-NV)—the Senate Minority Leader to-be—regarding Supreme Court Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas.

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Incoming Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid on Sunday had harsh words for Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.

When asked to comment on Thomas as a possible replacement for Chief Justice William Rehnquist, Reid told NBC's "Meet the Press": "I think that he has been an embarrassment to the Supreme Court.

"I think that his opinions are poorly written. I just don't think that he's done a good job as a Supreme Court justice."[SNIP]

But the Nevada Democrat said that he could support Thomas' fellow conservative, Justice Antonin Scalia, if he were nominated.

"I cannot dispute the fact, as I have said, that this is one smart guy," Reid said of Scalia. "And I disagree with many of the results that he arrives at, but his reasons for arriving at those results are very hard to dispute."

Says John:

Harry Reid's real problem with Clarence Thomas isn't the opinions he's written, it has to do with his skin color.

Larry Elder said much the same thing on his radio show yesterday. Well guess what? I’m going to have to disagree with two gentlemen who will usually make points that make sense to me.

The problem with assuming that Senator Reid dislikes Justice Thomas because he is a black conservative *using the evidence of the senator’s above statement* is that, to do so, one must assume that black people in general are notoriously bad writers and that the senator is playing to that stereotype.

Being unfamiliar with the quality of Justice Thomas’ written opinions in comparison to those of his peers--legal eagles may weigh in on this subject--I can’t comment one way or the other. However, if his writing abilities *are* inferior, it should be okay to say so, in spite of the recent denigration of the competence of other prominent black conservatives. If content of character is the tool against which all conservatives want to be measured, then it’s not racist to opine that a given black person isn’t up to a particular position, if it’s a legitimate opinion based on evidence.

Senator Reid isn’t off the hook, however. It’s interesting that Senator Reid didn’t give any examples of the justice’s allegedly less-than-stellar written opinions. Has the senator had actually read a Thomas opinion? Or was he just repeating the opinions of others who have spread the rumor that Justice Thomas isn’t quite up to snuff? Or was he merely playing to a portion of the Democrat base, a large portion of whom rabidly despise the youngest Supreme Court Justice? These are questions that probably have interesting answers.

Comments

[steve h]

Now, here's a question--how many times has Scalia signed one of Thomas's opinions?

What about vice-versa?

That might show;
(a) whether writing ability is in question
(b) whether Reid reads what the Justices write (!)
(c) whether Reid pays attention to justices agreeing with each others' written opinions
(d) whether either Justice generally writes better opinions than the other on a regular basis
(e) how much Scalia and Thomas agree with each other.

I've seen this on one other blog, and the detractors of Justice Thomas hadn't come up with a good example of execrable writing yet. I will be willing to be instructed by someone who is a legal eagle, and can cite the cases and argue the points.

[DarkStar]

Good comments.

The late judge Higgenbothem (sp?) took Thomas to task over one of his opinions. The opinion had to do with Thomas writing that it was not cruel and inhuman punishment to continue to beat a prisoner after he has been rendered harmless and is handcuffed. IIRC, Thomas wrote that prisoners had no rights AND that it was not a federal issue.

As soon as the senator made the comment, I knew he should be in trouble.

Scalia should get it over Thomas, just based on rank.

[Christopher Cross]

Darkstar, you're kind of mischaracterizing Thomas' dissent in Hudson v. McMillian, 503 U.S. 1.

From the Lawyers edition syllabus:

Thomas, J., joined by Scalia, J., dissenting, expressed the view that (1) a use of force that causes only insignificant harm to a prisoner is not cruel and unusual punishment; (2) the Eighth Amendment applies to only a narrow class of deprivations involving serious injury inflicted by prison officials acting with a culpable state of mind; (3) there was no justification for applying the malicious and sadistic standard to all excessive force cases, without regard to the constraints facing prison officials; and (4) the appropriate federal constitutional inquiry in the case at hand would have been whether any available state remedies were adequate under the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.

Further, Thomas' position was fairly clear and not quite what you make out:

Abusive behavior by prison guards is deplorable conduct that properly evokes outrage and contempt. But that does not mean that it is invariably unconstitutional. The Eighth Amendment is not, and should not be turned into, a National Code of Prison Regulation. To reject the notion that the infliction of concededly "minor" injuries can be considered either "cruel" or "unusual" "punishment" (much less cruel and unusual punishment) is not to say that it amounts to acceptable conduct. Rather, it is to recognize that primary responsibility for preventing and punishing such conduct rests not with the Federal Constitution but with the laws and regulations of the various States.

[David Blue]

"I think that his opinions are poorly written."

I don't know what that means.

If it's a reference to technical points that only lawyers would understand, you'd have to ask a lawyer about that.

If it's a reference to writing in plain English, I read a bunch of his opinions (along with those of the other Supreme Court judges) on pro-life issues and stuff I thought might be related, and I was surprised because on what I had read it was just commonly accepted that Justice Thomas couldn't write well. But the Supreme Court judges seemed to me to be pretty articulate across the board, Thomas as much as the others. It was very clear how his thoughts were organised, and what he thought the main points were, and he had a distinctive, rather blunt and sharp way of putting things, and a marked, unfriendly disinclination to see in the U.S. Constitution a solution to your problem, whatever it was. (I'm not saying that like it's a bad thing.)

He sure isn't a man for penumbras and emanations! And I'm definitely saying that like it's a good thing.

Just my 2c.

[Cassandra]

The most-often voiced complaint I hear about Thomas is that he's "too quiet" or "too passive". This always amuses me no end - how much sense does it show for a newer Justice to sound off loudly at every opportunity?

I've heard the man speak several times and have always been quite impressed with his careful, thorough style. He is simply not prone to making a big fuss or calling attention to himself. Lack of flamboyance should by no means be confused with incompetence.

Even better than writing, extemporaneous speaking usually reveals whether a mind is orderly and rational. Having listened to Thomas with great pleasure on several occasions, I have absolutely no doubts on that score.

[Veeshir]

I disagree, I think that it has everything to do with the color of Thomas' skin.
He's a black conservative. I'm not saying Reid is a racist, I'm saying that Dems have to attack all conservative blacks so that conservatism won't look attractive to blacks.
Look at the insults constantly leveled against successful black conservatives. "Uncle Tom", "Oreo", etc. I don't know how many times I've seen Condi Rice attacked for being against affirmative action when, "She benefited from it so much." Ummmm, she went to college when she was 15 and had her master's when she was 21. I don't think there's a quota of 15 year olds in higher education. She got where she is because she's brilliant, hardworking and tough. Not because she got preferential treatment because she was black.
I don't know as much about Thomas' background so I don't know how much he was helped by affirmative action but he gets attacked on the same points. Always without any explanation of exactly how he was helped by aa.

That's why the color of his skin is so important to Reid. He can handle a conservative, just not a black conservative.

[The Anchoress]

I think Reid got Rope-a-doped by Bush on this issue.