The Nation -- The Right's Judicial Juggernaut

"Clarence Thomas swore on a Bible he would speak the truth. He then told the Senate Judiciary Committee during his 1991 confirmation hearing that he never once thought about abortion his entire adult life, that he never even discussed Roe v. Wade with another member of the human species. He assured the Senate that he had no preconceived ideas about abortion or the right of privacy. It did not alter Thomas's preposterous story that his own sister had had an abortion. Or that he had given a well-known speech to the Heritage Foundation condemning abortion rights. Or that he was a student at Yale Law School in 1973, when the Roe v. Wade decision was announced, and that ruling was debated all over the campus.

"Thomas withheld the truth, concealed his ideology and was narrowly confirmed, 52 to 48. Then, in 1992, Justice Thomas joined Rehnquist and Scalia's dissent in Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Casey, in which they argued that Roe v. Wade should have been overturned in that case.

"Some senators are still suffering from a malady I have diagnosed as Thomas Trauma. They still resent being lied to by a Supreme Court nominee who is under oath. They still resent being played for fools.

"The extreme right already controls seven of the thirteen circuit appeals courts. The DC Circuit is the crown jewel of the federal system, and it is now evenly balanced. This is the court that is often the final decision-maker on labor, civil liberties and environmental cases." - Nan Aron - Alliance for Justice.