Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas is an avatar of hypocrisy in civil rights law. A descendant of slaves hailing from Pin Point, Georgia, his first language was Gullah.

Thomas blames affirmative action for devaluing his degree from Yale Law School. He recognizes publicly that he was in fact an affirmative action admission, but believes that to have been a bad thing and he is a reliable vote on the Supreme Court against affirmative action, on the ground that it discriminates against white people.

His legal career reflects a different kind of affirmative action, the elevation of a black conservative within a Republican Party out to demonstrate it is not racist in spite of opposing most of the legislative agenda endorsed by racial minorities.

Appointed to head the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Thomas distinguished himself by failing to move any cases under the new Americans With Disabilities Act, apparently because he disagreed with it.