it is my distinct honor to present to this audience, justice clarence thomas. [applause] justice thomas: thank you, jim. judge leon. i see so many of my colleagues here. good evening and welcome to the supreme court. i am delighted that so many of you could join us this evening for the final lecture in the society's 2015 leon silverman lecture series. tonight's talk by randy barnett will focus on the slaughterhouse cases. these are particularly interesting to me. it is sure to be an excellent lecture. before injuries professor barnett i want to take a moment to reflect on the society and its contributions to this court. leadership of a the late leon silverman, for whom this lecture series is named. it was a tenacious advocate for advancing public understanding of the supreme court and its history. i might add, a tenacious advocate for making sure that we all were involved. a few of the initiatives from his tenure as president and chairman of the society include this lecture series, the expansion of the journal of supreme court history to three issues a year, and

i love clarence thomas.ome of his writings are amazingly in-depth analysis of everything and yet they criticized him because they never asked questions during the hearings. it seems to me, when you look at these conservative african-americans, they ought to be models for the community. the mainstream media indicated becausee who they are by virtue of what their skin color is. i am one quarter spanish, one quarter mexican and half japanese. in the 21st century we should move beyond the idea that race is a determiner for anything. i have two brothers and two sisters and they are all extremely intelligent and kind people. the exact opposite of me. we come from the same genetic material. at some point, we need to discover that we need to move on. brian: i want to explain what they are looking at. 1950's, theyhe discriminated against blacks by having refrigerated water for the whites and then having very poor water deliveries for the blacks. i am saying that there are certain people in the political hemisphere th

if danforth hadn't been a senator, clarence thomas would not have gone with him to washington as a staffmember. if thomas had not been visible in washington as a rare african-american who opposed his communities majority views, he wouldn't have been appointed by the first president bush to head and to disempower the equal employment opportunity commission and then to sit on the dc court of appeals. if thomas had not been given such credentials he couldn't have been nominated by the same president bush to succeed the great civil right advocate thurgood marshall on the supreme court. if thomas had it not been on the supreme court, he could not have supplied the one-vote margin defaulted the florida recount. if there had been a recount, al gore, not george w. bush would have been president as was concluded by a postelection examination of all uncounted ballots that was commissioned by 12 major news organizations. if george w. bush had not been president, the united states would have been less likely to lose the world since the after 911, by launching the longest war in us history with more

if danforth hadn't been a senator, clarence thomas wouldn't have come with him to washington as a taffe member. if -- as a staff member. if thomas hadn't been visible in washington as a rare african-american who opposed his community's majority views, he wouldn't have been appointed by the first president bush to head and to disempower the equal employment opportunity commission, and then to sit on d.c. court of appeals. if thomas hadn't been given such credentials, he couldn't have been nominated by same president bush to succeed the great civil rights advocate justice >> also the united states would not have falsified evidence to justify invading oil-rich iraq, thus starting an eight-year war and, together with afghanistan, convincing some in islamic countries that the united states was waging war on islam. without george w. bush, there would not be the biggest transfer of wealth into private hands in the history of this nation, a pay ratio in which the average ceo earns 470 times more than the average worker. in canada it's only 20 times more. an executive order giving an estimated 4

supreme court and we are told that clarence thomas took a lack look at the case and then i believe you said the entire court did and denied his appeal. >> that is true, gloria. it was nearly a four-hour delay. as you know the u.s. supreme court has no deadline. they did decide in five minutes, five hours or five days. and keep in mind, 20 witnesses about 4:30 and see this execution. we were all waiting to see what was going to happen next. jail and prison officials had no idea what was happening. clearly you just heard from one of the victims' family members waiting for justice, as they see it as closure for the family of teri lynn matthews and unfortunately the mother of natalie holley did not get to see that, she passed away at 86 years old. i want to bring in my colleague lloyd sowers who actually witnesses the execution. lloyd, can you share with us, first of all, what was it like to be in there. >> we were separated from the families for hours and we were wondering was this going to happen, and we could only feel the frustration of the families, finally going to happen tonight and

. >> this latest era that gabe defines really start with clarence thomas who was young was ideologic could be expected to be around for a long time on the bench ? >> well, i do think it started about that time. and clearly, it's become the trend . i think in the past 30 years or so justices started to search 20 years or so. president saying i think it's good thing to nominate somebody who's only he going to be on the court for a decade or so, the whole system is structured to incentivize someone who can stay on for a long time. i can't blame the president for wanting to do it. i can't blame senators who are under pressure from special interest groups and these sorts of things to want to nominate somebody who is going to comport with their long term vision for america and for for the courts. whether that is good structurally is another somewhere question. what i'm hearing gabe say about the age raises a good point about the constitution which provides no mechanism for a supreme court justice who is incapacitated in some way say in a vegetative state is in a coma or some sort of situat

how did you meet clarence thomas, now justice thomas? how did you meet him? williams: now, that's an interesting story. senator thurmond got me a job at the department of agriculture in animal, plant, and health inspection services where i was in my area, agriculture, which i understand very well. but they didn't know what to do with me. the secretary of agriculture at the time was john block. and john block said, "why don't you put together this black history month program for the department?" i said, "oh, i don't want to be involved in no race issues or no minority issues. my father told me to stay away from that because you are going to put me in a box." and the secretary -- and i mentioned it to senator thurmond. he said, "well, you know, it may be an opportunity for you." he said, "you can always shy away from race issues. don't be afraid of that because it is a part of america's fabric." he said, "but, you know, i mean, embrace it and see if you can come up with some ideas because they may learn things about you." so i was reading the newspaperss and i

internship working for south carolina senator strom thurmond, and later, his involvement in the clarence thomas u.s. supreme court confirmation hearings. this program is about an hour and 45 minutes. bond: armstrong williams, welcome to explorations in black leadership. williams: thank you for inviting me. bond: we're very pleased to have you here. i want to begin with some questions about the brown decision. now, it occurred five years before you were born, but what was the discussion, if any, in your family or what was the feeling t

. -- supreme court justices like clarence thomas have said everyone agrees slaughterhouse was wrong when it construed the clause so narrowly . dissent, ifd in his this was the case in the amendment was an idol enactment. what the various positions of the dissenters were about the scope of the privileges and immunities clause. tell us about justice field, who seemed to see it as a guarantee of equality of fundamental rights, and justice bradley who said there were certain fun of the rights including those declared in the declaration of independence. help us understand the range of positions about why slaughterhouse was wrong. >> one reason slaughterhouse, from the early 1870's is a good case to talk about the difference between the 14th amendment and the privileges and immunities clause as being an equality requirement for a freestanding substantive guarantee of certain rights without respect to just discrimination. slaughterhouse itself was about a monopoly in the operation of slaughterhouses in new orleans created by the government. a monopoly is intrinsically unequal. it singles out so

you look at someone like clarence thomas we see people being appointed to the supreme court despite allegations. allegations 20 years ago weren't enough i. think now they -- i hope we have progressed enough where gender justice and sexual equality and anti-sexism is something that we take seriously in the workplace. i think, though, at this moment we have to be very careful and walk a tightrope. i think it's important to hold hillary clinton accountable for things she does with the issue of gender. i think it's troublesome to talk about her husban's indiscretions when she's running for office. that also wreaks of a kind of sexism of we're going to judge you based on what your husband did. we have to hold hillary clinton accountable for public policy that is against women. there's plenty of stuff we can hold hilalary clinton accountabe for. i'm all about that. but i don't think going into her personal affair and talking about how she responded to her husband cheating on her is how we should assess her as a president. i think that's a very troublesome position to take. >> i agree with marc on tha

circuit's with robert bork, clarence thomas, understands you don't get very far in that world if youu. it is survival mode, and get to where she is, being the only woman in any context and to be disagreeable. the funny thing is she came to the premier of scully and ginsburg and gave interviews, typically was not there. and introduce to the audience with a range are a at and the guy was wearing big eyebrows. it was very funny. i did see when he was interviewed and asked about it there is the first amendment. >> thank you for taking the time to speak with us today. i was hoping you could comment on the fact that the court is so secretive and so private you have all made careers and make yourself famous by exposing the court to the media. i wonder what you think the role of the media is going to be going forward. >> this same -- is going to be. justice stevens always white to say people call us secretive. we are the only part of the government the right down the reasons for everything we do. [applause] >> i think that is clever but it is also nonsense. i think just in terms of baby step

the teacher was also part of the legal team that tried to destroy clarence thomas.ou can see what this dump trump group is all about. a bunch of radical leftists who believe they can say pretty much anything, attack nip, smear their own country and all of that is okay. however, donald trump's opinion not okay. and if we in the media report it, they're going to get us. or something. now, the factor is extending an invitation to most of the people in the anti-trump group. we are happy to debate them here. but the odds of jane fonda showing up on the factor, over her life miss fonda has been an emotional person often(jr'g out against her country in bizarre ways. she has apologized for her conduct during the vietnam war openly helping the enemy while americans werenning killed in southeast asia. talking points accepted miss fonda's apology because that to do. but i don't believe jane fonda has learned any lessons at all. if she believes noe noam chomsky is not a hater, then she is out of her mind. chomsky makes trump look like mother teresa one of the reasons i continue

and they are going back to trying to figure out, certainly scalia is like this and alito and clarence thomas. they want to know what do those boundaries mean. isn't that an interesting question. it's not what the law has been since. the statutory giving him citizenship to people upon birth because their parents are american. it's what the constitution meant at the time. it seems to me the republican right is going to be dealing with this over the next couple weeks because there are going to be young lawyers out there and old lawyers. we had larry tribe on last night, a progressive, a liberal, all over the place saying trump's got a case. >> the interesting thing about this is it has sparked a legitimate discussion and debate among legal scholars and that donald trump has managed to do that. it was obviously a political move on his part. but it's taken hold in this more substantive type of way. the thing i found fascinating about that exchange last night was that donald trump managed to say it like it was selfless of him to bring this up. it's just about the democrats, someone's going to sue

clarence thomas sis it's become too partisan to be comfortable for a judge.ou're there in statuary hall, what are you seeing? >> i have a lot from behind where you guys are looking, the supreme court, at least the members we saw here, i think we saw five, maybe six, lined up in their robes, waiting for their names to be called. the fact that the members of the supreme court are here, and i'm can actually looking at them down the hall. can you get a sense of how close we are, that's where the house chamber is, and also where the president is going to walk in and hear that call for the last time. >> also interesting, jake, that congresswoman and democratic national committee chair, debbie wasserman schultz and keith ellison, they have urged their fellow democrats to bring a muslim as their guest, and we're told about 20 members of congress have said they are in fact bringing muslim guests include al franken, bringing a local deli owner from minnesota. now we see the chief justice and other members of the supreme court walking in. >> there's john roberts, the ch

several months later clarence thomas and the supreme court said you can no longer patent a gene in our country. they pat themselves on the back but 12 years before them what about those women who couldn't be tested and the lives lost. technology is happening so quickly the legal system, the ethics taking a long time to catch up in these lucky years. >> rose: if you look at all of the possibilities, are we-- how far off are we where you can take any organ of the body, and regrow parts of it through stem cell. >> i think we're at the beginning of a stem cell explosion. >> rose: just to-- you and i, we just talked about immunotherapy, about gene editing. all those things are just taking off too. >> yes. >> rose: go ahead. >> immunotherapy is here, it is taking off but it's real and happening today. crisper, gene editing is still in its evolution. certainly 3d printing, organs, stem cells, it's happened. there is a girl with a bladder that has been in place for several years that was 3d int printed for her own stem cells. we're getting better. the stem technology will take off, more comple

when we get to original intent and clarence thomas and the rest of the original intention people gether seems like they would have the same interpretation. like the right to bear arms means the right to bear arms. i don't know why the right wing decides when to be literal and when not to be. >> cruz had great arguments. he went back and unearthed a donald trump quote from september saying it is not an issue. but spending so much time defending this. he was tweeting out rebuttals too. i think donald trump won the argument and we are go to continue to have this discussion. >> i would be more defending of ted cruz if he raised his voice just once when obama was accused of being a muslim kenyan and he never did. i am not going to spare the rod in this case. howie jackson is down at the spin room. you can tell when you hang down at the spin room. the ones that lost are racing around trying to make up for what they lost during the first two hours. can you tell? >> yeah. not at this point. it is still early. you can see the media scrum. everybody waiting to get the shot and ask their questi

the united states, justice clarence thomas, our most recent treatment of the second amendment prior to the late supreme court decisions. he stated that they reversed the district of columbia's invalidation of the national firearms act enacted in 1934. in miller, and this is his quote, we determined the second amendment did not garen -- guarantee the right to have a sawed off shotgun because it was not shown to be of ordinary military equipment that could, quote, contribute to the common defense. ban military rifle, you say? throughout our history, they've been guaranteed as an essential portion of the defense of our liberty and our homes and our lives. what about the terror watch list? nobody on the terror watch list ought to be able to own a firearm. the terror watch list is only on suspicion. no court, no rule of law, no jury of your peers, it is on suspicion for surveillance and can be done bureaucratcally and administratively. in fact, we've had several members of congress such as my colleague from alaska, don young, who was falsely and inadvertently put on the terror watch list. u

when we get to clarence thomas and the rest of the original intention people get together. they would have the same literal interpretation as they have on the second amendment, which is the right to bear arms mines the right to bear arms. natural born means natural born. i don't know when the right wing decides to be literal and when not to be. >> cruz had some great arguments tonight. he went back and unearthed a donald trump quote from september saying this is a nonissue. by virtue of the fact he's spending so much time defending this point by point. he was tweeting out rebuttals too, i think donald trump has won the argument, in that we're going to continue having this discussion, and that hurts ted cruz. >> i would be a lot more defending of ted cruz like you are, on the intellectual points if he had raised his voice just once. just once again -- when obama's accused of being a kenyan. and implicitty a muslim kenyan, and he never ever did. i'm not going to spare the rod in this case. howie jackson is down at the spin room down there. you can always tell when you hang ar

interestingly enough those who are keeping track, the justice who is decided not to go, scalia, clarence thomasnd sam ymca alito. >> secretary of state, who has been working very hard today to make sure that the ten u.s. sailors are released from iran. >> i was going to say, not to be a cynic, but interesting that the state department would put that information out five minutes before the networks go out tonight so the broadcast media can deal with the story saying everything is going to be fine. the sailors are going to be released. that way when the president doesn't make mention in the state of the union, it does not stand out as a sore thumb. >> as we watch members of the cabinet come into the room. the other thing we're going to hear from the governor of south carolina. carolina. >>> an opportunity tonight. she is a female. she is a minority and she has done a lot of really good work in her state. it was a very interesting choice at a time when they were often accused as being sexist. they're putting a woman out to make a response. they wanted to layout what the future could be like. we do

one was part of the legal team that tried to undermine the nomination of clarence thomas.agina monologues and the third is a co-founder of code pink. i mean, we're talking about the furthest realm of the left, and it -- i mean, they must realize that this is not going to be effective for the primers. it's not going to reach the base voter of iowa and new hampshire. maybe they're trying to set up the organization for the general election because they're starting to take donald trump seriously, that he may get the nomination. he scares them. >> this is clearly a liberal left in hollywood. when you've got people like michael moore leading the charge. that's clearly what's going on there. quickly, if you can compare and contrast what this means against the national review. when they've got the entire issue against trump. those are strong conservative voices. >> well, we live in very strange times when the voices of the hollywood left are on the same page as the editors and writers at the national review. that is really bizarre. look, for a publication to take its entire public