{"id":780161,"date":"2026-05-07T18:02:28","date_gmt":"2026-05-07T18:02:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/780161\/"},"modified":"2026-05-07T18:02:28","modified_gmt":"2026-05-07T18:02:28","slug":"justice-clarence-thomas-makes-supreme-court-history","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/780161\/","title":{"rendered":"Justice Clarence Thomas makes Supreme Court history"},"content":{"rendered":"

WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 The first baby boomer on the Supreme Court<\/a> hit a milestone on Thursday, becoming the second-longest serving justice in history at a time when his influence has never seemed greater. <\/p>\n

Once an outlier<\/a> on the nation\u2019s highest court, Justice Clarence Thomas has become a towering figure in the conservative legal movement over the last decade as he helped secure landmark rulings on abortion, voting and Second Amendment rights.<\/p>\n

The only justice with a longer tenure is liberal William O. Douglas<\/a>. Thomas would overtake Douglas in 2028 if he remains on the court, and there is no sign he plans to retire anytime soon.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think he\u2019s more energized and excited now than when I first met him,\u201d said John Yoo, a law professor at the University of California, Berkeley, who served in Republican President George W. Bush\u2019s administration after his time as a Thomas clerk three decades ago. <\/p>\n

Thomas was confirmed in 1991 after contentious hearings<\/a> that included sexual harassment allegations. More recently, his acceptance of luxury trips<\/a> has raised a storm of ethics questions. He\u2019s nevertheless gone from near-silence at oral arguments<\/a> to asking the first questions and penning a landmark ruling expanding Second Amendment rights<\/a>. <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Supreme<\/p>\n

Supreme Court Justice Nominee Clarence Thomas and his wife Virginia listen during his nomination hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington, Sept. 10, 1991. (AP Photo\/Doug Mills, File)<\/p>\n

Supreme Court Justice Nominee Clarence Thomas and his wife Virginia listen during his nomination hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington, Sept. 10, 1991. (AP Photo\/Doug Mills, File)<\/p>\n

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Following the nomination of three conservative justices by Republican President Donald Trump, Thomas is now the most senior member of a supermajority that\u2019s also overturned abortion as a constitutional right<\/a>, ended affirmative action in college admissions<\/a> and sharply limited the Voting Rights Act<\/a>.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Members<\/p>\n

Members of the Supreme Court sit for a new group portrait following the addition of Associate Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, at the Supreme Court building in Washington, Oct. 7, 2022. Bottom row, from left, Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor, Associate Justice Clarence Thomas, and Chief Justice of the United States John Roberts. Top row, from left, Associate Justice Amy Coney Barrett, Associate Justice Neil Gorsuch, and Associate Justice Brett Kavanaugh. (AP Photo\/J. Scott Applewhite, File)<\/p>\n

Members of the Supreme Court sit for a new group portrait following the addition of Associate Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, at the Supreme Court building in Washington, Oct. 7, 2022. Bottom row, from left, Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor, Associate Justice Clarence Thomas, and Chief Justice of the United States John Roberts. Top row, from left, Associate Justice Amy Coney Barrett, Associate Justice Neil Gorsuch, and Associate Justice Brett Kavanaugh. (AP Photo\/J. Scott Applewhite, File)<\/p>\n

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\u201cThe court has radically moved in his direction over the course of his time on the court,\u201d said Stanford University law professor Pamela Karlan. Thomas\u2019 seniority means he can decide who writes an opinion if he\u2019s part of a majority that doesn\u2019t include Chief Justice John Roberts, a factor that can nudge other votes behind closed doors, Karlan said. <\/p>\n

Off the bench, Thomas\u2019 sphere of influence also includes his large, close-knit network of former clerks<\/a>, who have served in the Trump administration and are increasingly filling out the ranks of federal judges.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\n AP AUDIO: Clarence Thomas becomes the second longest-serving Supreme Court justice in American history\n <\/p>\n

AP Washington correspondent Sagar Meghani reports on Clarence Thomas making Supreme Court history.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat is an important legacy that he will leave,\u201d said Sarah Konsky, director of the Supreme Court and Appellate Clinic at the University of Chicago Law School. \u201cEven as justices\u2019 own time on the court winds down, significant influence lives on through their clerks.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s not to say Thomas\u2019 time on the court is up. In a recent speech, Thomas tied the nation\u2019s highest ideals to a conservative vision of limited government \u2014 and launched a broadside on progressivism seen by critics as unfair and inappropriate. In the room at the University of Texas, though, it earned a standing ovation.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"U.S.<\/p>\n

U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Clarence Thomas answers questions during a visit to the University of Texas at Austin, in Austin, Texas, April 15, 2026. (AP Photo\/Eric Gay, File)<\/p>\n

U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Clarence Thomas answers questions during a visit to the University of Texas at Austin, in Austin, Texas, April 15, 2026. (AP Photo\/Eric Gay, File)<\/p>\n

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Thomas, who became the second Black member of the court, now has a tenure that tops 34 years, putting him ahead of Justice Stephen J. Field, who was nominated by President Abraham Lincoln before the end of the Civil War and served as the only 10th justice until 1897. <\/p>\n

For Thomas, 77, it\u2019s a long way<\/a> from the hearings at which his nomination by Republican President George H.W. Bush was nearly derailed by allegations that he had sexually harassed Anita Hill<\/a>, a charge he forcefully denied.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"President<\/p>\n

President George H.W. Bush and Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas hold a private meeting in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, Sept. 6, 1991. (AP Photo\/Greg Gibson, File)<\/p>\n

President George H.W. Bush and Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas hold a private meeting in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, Sept. 6, 1991. (AP Photo\/Greg Gibson, File)<\/p>\n

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Thomas has more recently come under scrutiny for lavish, undisclosed trips from a GOP megadonor and the conservative political activism of his wife<\/a>, who backed false claims that the 2020 election was stolen from Trump. The justice has said he wasn\u2019t required to disclose the trips he took with friends and ignored calls to recuse himself from cases related to the election.<\/p>\n

On the court, though, recent years have also brought perhaps the most significant work of his career, especially a 2022 opinion he wrote<\/a> that found people generally have the right to carry a gun in public. The justice did not respond to a request for comment on his tenure. <\/p>\n

His own jurisprudence has changed little over the years, said Scott Gerber, author of \u201cFirst Principles: The Jurisprudence of Clarence Thomas.\u201d Even as the majority moves his way, he\u2019s continued to write dissents that get noticed. <\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s incredibly consistent,\u201d Gerber said. Once known for solo dissents, \u201cnow he writes majority opinions.\u201d<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Follow the AP\u2019s coverage of the Supreme Court at https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/us-supreme-court<\/a>. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 The first baby boomer on the Supreme Court hit a milestone on Thursday, becoming the…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":780162,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[4,3],"tags":[66557,319340,3881,18882,356,12785,84,69,57,196126,2935,15128,319337,50,319336,80,319339,10410,319338,369,61,67,132,68,93,319335],"class_list":["post-780161","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-states","category-us","tag-abraham-lincoln","tag-anita-hill","tag-ap-top-news","tag-clarence-thomas","tag-courts","tag-dc-wire","tag-district-of-columbia","tag-donald-trump","tag-general-news","tag-george-h-w-bush","tag-gun-politics","tag-john-roberts","tag-john-yoo","tag-news","tag-pamela-karlan","tag-politics","tag-scott-gerber","tag-sexual-abuse","tag-stephen-j-field","tag-supreme-court-of-the-united-states","tag-u-s-news","tag-united-states","tag-unitedstates","tag-us","tag-washington-news","tag-william-o-douglas"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116534611959561724","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/780161","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=780161"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/780161\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/780162"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=780161"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=780161"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=780161"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}