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Revision as of 05:16, 12 July 2003 by Dori (talk | contribs) (fixed link to Georgia)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)Clarence Thomas (born June 23, 1948) has been a US Supreme Court Associate Justice since 1991.
Thomas was born in the Pin Point community of Georgia near Savannah. Devoutly Roman Catholic then (he now attends Episcopal church with his wife), Thomas considered entering the priesthood, and briefly attended a Catholic seminary in Georgia, where he encountered some racism. Thomas later attended Holy Cross, where he co-founded the school's Black Student Union.
He married Virginia Lamp in 1987 and has one child, Jamal Adeen, by a previous marriage. He attended Conception Seminary and received an A.B., cum laude, from Holy Cross College, and a J.D. from Yale Law School in 1974, after affirmative action programs designed to increase the number of African-American students at Yale helped him gain admission. He was admitted to law practice in Missouri in 1974, and served as an Assistant Attorney General of Missouri from 1974-1977, an attorney with the Monsanto Company from 1977-1979, and Legislative Assistant to Senator John Danforth from 1979-1981. From 1981-1982, he served as Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights, U.S. Department of Education, and as Chairman of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission from 1982-1990. He became a Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in 1990. President George H. W. Bush nominated him as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court to replace retiring Justice Thurgood Marshall. Thomas was narrowly confirmed by the Senate, with a controversial 52-48 vote, took his seat October 23, 1991.
During his 1991 confirmation hearings, a former colleague, college law professor Anita Hill, accused Thomas of sexually harassing her when the two worked together. The Thomas hearings brought the sexual harassment issue to the forefront of American culture, and have had a lasting impact on workplace relations.