Justice Says Law Degree ‘Worth 15 Cents’
October 21st, 2007 . by TexasFred
NEW HAVEN, Conn. (AP) – U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas has a 15-cent price tag stuck to his Yale law degree, blaming the school’s affirmative action policies in the 1970s for his difficulty finding a job after he graduated.
Some of his black classmates say Thomas needs to get over his grudge because Yale opened the door to extraordinary opportunities.
Thomas’ new autobiography, “My Grandfather’s Son,” shows how the second black justice on the Supreme Court came to oppose affirmative action after his law school experience. He was one of about 10 blacks in a class of 160 who had arrived at Yale after the unrest of the 1960s, which culminated in a Black Panther Party trial in New Haven that nearly caused a large-scale riot.
The conservative justice says he initially considered his admission to Yale a dream, but soon felt he was there because of his race. He says he loaded up on tough courses to prove he was not inferior to his white classmates but considers the effort futile. He says he was repeatedly turned down in job interviews at law firms after his 1974 graduation.
“I learned the hard way that a law degree from Yale meant one thing for white graduates and another for blacks, no matter how much any one denied it,” Thomas writes. “I’d graduated from one of America’s top law schools, but racial preference had robbed my achievement of its true value.”
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Justice Says Law Degree ‘Worth 15 Cents’
I have always had a fairly high level of respect for Justice Thomas, and that level just went UP a notch higher with this story, after reading his feelings concerning race preferences and affirmative action, it’s simply a fact, affirmative action has cheapened the achievements of MANY…
No one, man or woman, regardless of their skin color, religion or nationality, should be given ANY preferential treatment because of their particular gender, race or religious belief…
School admissions, whether to private prep schools or universities, job placements, promotions, nothing in life should be based on racial preferences, a persons advancement in life should be based on ability, qualifications and merit, not skin pigmentation…
There is no doubt in my mind that Justice Thomas was an outstanding student and he IS an excellent Justice, thank God he has condemned affirmative action for the useless measure it truly is, an action that has deprived more people of education and advancement in life than it has helped, and I have seen the result of affirmative action up close and personal, when hiring was done on the basis of race or sex as opposed to qualifications and experience, and when promotions were handed out the same way, “We have to promote him/her, they’re the right race/sex and we have to meet the federal mandate on hirings and promotions you know..”
Federal mandate my ass, all affirmative action ever did was allow the grossly under-qualified a chance to actually prove the ‘peter principle’ to be a cogent point of the ‘nanny state’ mind set…
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Justice Thomas is truly a gentleman who has earned my respect and admiration. America needs more judges like him.
This policy points to the decline of American business and education. How can any company compete when they are constantly being depleted of the best and the brightest by mis guided government policy.
I am not denying the fact that prejudice has hurt our country but more harm has been done with affirmative action. At every level of government and industry we have fallen back. Regaining this ground will not be easy.
I’d known little about Justice Thomas — mostly what I read in the DEM — Defeatist, Elitist Media. But when I watched the 60 Minutes interview of Justice Thomas and Steve Kroft, well, my view of Thomas went UP exponentially, to the point where I ordered his book.
If only the bulk of the black population had his viewpoint, his grounded ethics, his ability to simply get down to work and achieve his goals. I’ll bet the bulk of urban black males don’t even know the definition of the word “goal” — but they sure know the definition of a similar 4-letter word: “jail.”
BZ