For the fourth summer, Justice Clarence Thomas spoke with the Institute’s first year students at the Supreme Court.

As in past years, the Justice made a compelling case to the students that the role of the Supreme Court is to defend the Constitution, not to legislate.

He also spoke to the students about his childhood in rural Georgia and the sacrifices that his grandparents and many friends made to enable him to leave the Jim Crow South and be educated at the College of the Holy Cross and Yale Law School. (pictured at left is the junior class outside of the Supreme Court)

The students asked Justice Thomas many pointed questions during the ninety minute session about education, race, and the workings of the Supreme Court. To one question about the lingering effects of slavery on African Americans, Justice Thomas replied, “black on black crime and illegitimacy rates are rampant today, but almost unheard of for my grandfather’s generation. My grandfather knew slavery, but he never used slavery as an excuse for anything. Why should your generation?”

Justice Thomas went on to say that racism will always exist, but urged the scholars to never let racism prevent them from achieving their ambitions.

After the discussion, Calvin Hadley, a junior at Howard University stated that “my eyes were opened to the reality of the life of a public figure. Before meeting Justice Thomas, I had a preconceived notion of what he would be like, but that all changed after talking with him and seeing that he was an honest, caring, and intelligent person.”