90 Minutes with Clarence Thomas

Whenever I watch or read Justice Thomas, I always come away liking him even more. He is authentic, down-to-earth and credible and human. I almost never watch longer online videos because I have such a deplorable attention span, but this Q&A between him and a bunch of law students was worth watching, all 90 minutes of it.

Thomas has a lot of really good things to say about the self-destructive nature of cynicism (about an hour and 6 minutes in), the Constitution, how he chooses his clerks (I love the fact that he acknowledges how big America is, and how many brilliant, worthy people do not happen to grace the Ivy League schools) and more. He is passionate, humble and inspiring and when he talks about his feelings about the founding documents -or about what the future holds for the students before him- he is mesmerizing. Low key, but still mesmerizing. Watch him about 48 minutes into it, after declaring (in a completely heartfelt way) how he loves spending time with his clerks and with students -how they energize him- Thomas really gets into why he would rather spend time talking to students than hang out with the DC social scene.

“I’m not a member of any country club; this is what I like; it may have something to do with the fact that I wanted to be a priest, and this is a part of it. . . when I was a student I remember dignitaries coming to the school and bypassing the students; they were too important. They would talk at us, and leave. And I remember as a student, saying “I will never do that; I will go to the kids first.”

Then he and a student have a good laugh.

Just excellent! Do yourself a favor, brew a pot of coffee (or pour a glass of wine) and do yourself the favor of watching this!

Some excerpts in text, here (H/T Althouse)

Also, check out this very interesting clip.