Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas delivers speech at Notre Dame

NOTRE DAME, Ind. (WNDU) - On Thursday, hundreds gathered to listen to esteemed guest, Justice Clarence Thomas as he delivered the 2021 Tocqueville Lecture at the University of Notre Dame.

He talked about his journey to the Supreme Court.

“It’s not about winning and losing at the court. It is about the entire country and the idea of this country,” said Thomas.

Thomas also talked about surviving the negativity of a segregated world.

“Neither slavery nor Jim Crow defeated us. We recognize that it’s Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. decades ago that the magnificent words of the constitution and the Declaration of Independence were a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir,” Thomas said.

Thomas’s faith guided him throughout his life.

“Those around us took this calling seriously. Our neighbors and those in our daily lives taught us that God loved us equally and that America stood for that same ideal even though it had failed to live up to it. Despite this failure, our Christian duty was still to love our country, even as we objected to its evidence shortcomings. This was more than a believe. It was a way of life,” Thomas said.

During his speech, he criticized judges for veering into politics.

“The court was thought to be the least dangerous branch and we may have become the most dangerous,” he said.

While in town, Thomas co-taught a class in the Center for Citizenship and Constitutional Government, aimed to help students become ethical leaders and thoughtful citizens.

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