Kevin Abourezk: Justice Clarence Thomas talks to graduates

Monday, May 9, 2011  

"In a speech peppered with references to war movies and historic war speeches, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas told the University of Nebraska College of Law class of 2011 they must earn the sacrifices that others have made for them.

"I ask each of you in all sincerity, ‘What will you do to earn what others have sacrificed to give you?'" he said. "What have you already done to earn that sacrifice?"

As the first sitting Supreme Court justice to participate in the College of Law commencement, Thomas spoke to the law graduates and their families at the Lied Center for Performing Arts on Saturday.

Thomas graduated from Yale Law School in 1974. He was an assistant attorney general of Missouri from 1974 to 1977, an attorney with Monsanto Co. from 1977 to 1979 and a legislative assistant to Sen. John Danforth from 1979 to 1981. From 1981 to 1982, Thomas was assistant secretary for civil rights in the U.S. Department of Education. He then was chairman of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission from 1982 to 1990.

He became a judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in 1990. Former President George H.W. Bush nominated him as an associate justice of the Supreme Court, and he took his seat on Oct. 23, 1991."

Get the Story:
Kevin Abourezk: Clarence Thomas tells law grads to earn others' sacrifices (The Lincoln Journal Star 5/8)