Clarence Thomas: Court is very different without Scalia

Clarence Thomas had one of the most distinguished legal careers in American history he's the only second african-american to ever serve on the Supreme Court and Justice Thomas likes to stay out of the spotlight he rarely speaks to the media luckily he made an exception for me maybe it's because I clerk for the Supreme Court for him just a few years ago we spoke earlier about his judicial philosophy his contentious confirmation hearing and his friendship and respect for the late great Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia welcome Justice Thomas great to see you thank you for having me it's only been 25 years since I work for you I'm totally dating myself and that's completely fine you know it's thinking a lot about what I wanted to ask you in this interview because I know you kind of love doing any press interviews and and and that's well established but I was thinking about your friendship with Justice Scalia and he was also a friend of mine tell me about the court without him well I think the most charitable things to say is that it's different I think my colleagues would agree or in this sort of a big emptiness to it he had a way of filling up the room with his personality is quips as intellect as humor and you know he's wouldn't when he's alone or in a group he's got to be on stage and he's just he was a lot of fun you know it's interesting I did not know him before I went to the court and I got to know him and we developed a friendship a bond of trust and and so for me it personally it's very different and I have excellent colleagues there and Justice Alito is just a fabulous person justice Gorsuch is it's just outstanding and of course the my friends who've been there for a while are just good people and worked out very well but without him it's very very different it's an entirely different court without him justice Gorsuch there's some reports that he's ruffled some feathers at the at the court is there anything to that or how is he how is he pursued well I'm so good I don't have any feathers so I'm certainly not a part of that typically hang back a little bit at the beginning but I kind of like the fact he was when he went right in there it's like different for me he is a good man and I have no idea what they're talking about you know years ago I heard reports that Justice Scalia was tossing things and slamming doors and I never saw all those I never did either and I was next door to him so I said what are you holding back but I'm here because I hear you're doing all these things so no I you know people have to say what they have to say I don't see all those things when you're new on the court you're trying to find your way here it's a lot of work it's a lot of personal adjustments you're moving your family you're getting through the effects of a confirmation I don't care who that is and it is an adjustment period this is not the Court of Appeals this Court is quite different from being for him on the Tenth Circuit for me having been in DC sir you were there in my second year so you know it's still going through an adjustment well we had that small office justice we had like a closet for an office now you guys have this really in a really nice chamber so we had to deal with the small tiny law clerks have those chambers in them I just want you to know they don't put they put no judges no one gets in there anymore the the court itself with the outsiders people who never had a chance to visit the court they hear about the court they see that annual photo that you all take and you all look like you just lost your best friend I mean you're rarely smiling and it looks really kind of dour an unhappy place to be I know you were in the seminary for a time and I think Jesus Joseph Thomas still leads that kind of monastic life you know you don't you know you know you know you don't give many interviews and don't talk to all that many people or the public eye but is it collegial on the inside for people who don't know about it it is a good place to work you can disagree with this opinion or that but I'm not the person to say it is a sour place or it's a dour place or that it is funereal and it's at its atmosphere it is a wonderful place to work I loved it in Jan Greenberg's book in 2007 about about the court supreme conflict she exploded this myth that pretty much everyone had to concede was a myth that you were like Scalia's puppet early on and you just agree with Scalia and all the stuff and of course she went from case to case to case involving race involving you know Aryan Brotherhood prison gang members should remember that after Fortas yeah a long time ago and that you ended up having your own view of jurisprudence your own approach to judging that was completely unique and much too sometimes to the consternation of Justice Scalia well you know he and I we had a cut we had a bond but I have a long history of being told what to do I really do that well you know I just it's on I think people again as I said deep free earlier people have to say what they they have to say it is a place where individuals do their work nobody follows the other person Justice Scalia didn't follow me and I didn't follow him and I dare say nobody if there follows another person the reasoning of your opinions your philosophy it's described as alternatively formalistic rigid strictly conservative how do you describe your philosophy justice I think it's get it right it's the I think we are required to reason to a conclusion and that's what we try to do and try to do it in a way that it is accessible to regular people I think when people don't agree with you you said you're going to a football game I am a huge Nebraska fan we're getting into that by the way the Cornhuskers no I mean we're not doing that we're doing okay but not great yeah the volleyball team my favorite team No volleyball is a big deal we are we have over 8,000 people for a game that's so people have a tendency in sports that to be outcome oriented so you will take you want a particular outcome you want to win the game if the referees make a call consistent with the outcome you prefer then you say the referee did a great job because that referee has somehow benefited or it made possible the outcome you want I think we have to be careful not to take outcomes that we want and backwash that into the process of decision-making so you don't reach it out a decision and enforce the process you use the process and try to do it in a legitimate way again something Justice Scalia and I agreed on you don't justify the outcome you reason to the outcome 28 years ago you went through the worst confirmation spectacle in history mr. chairman I am a victim of this process my name has been harmed my integrity has been harmed my character has been harmed my family has been harmed my friends have been harmed there is nothing this committee this body or this country can do give me my good name back nothing I will not provide the rope for my own lynching or for further humiliation no job is worth what I've been through no job you said at the time that I'm a victim of this process my name has been harm my integrity has been harmed my character has been harmed no job is worth what I have been through no job was it worth it you know that's a good question I think we are called to do certain things in my youth I thought I was called to be a priest thought that was my vocation and I think their jobs that perhaps and experiences that you wouldn't choose but when you're called to do it now think about it a second the when we go up to when we do Wounded Warrior events or we go up to do Wreaths Across America what do you tell the the widows the families of the Fallen that you were too afraid to go through a little bit of uncertainty a little bit of difficulty to do a job like this when they actually were in harm's way would you tell the young man who's a double amputee because of war that you were afraid to go through that the I don't thinks anyone would choose to go through unpleasantness but if it has to be that to do what is right and so be it

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Keywords: Laura Ingraham, The Ingraham Angle, Judiciary, Supreme Court, Apple News, On Air, Personality, Politics, Primary Politics, Special, Fox News, News

Id: owLy4PTLSz8

Length: 9min 56sec (596 seconds)

Published: Wed Nov 01 2017