Georgia Senate votes for statue of Clarence Thomas in Capitol

Despite strong objections from Democrats, the Republican-controlled Georgia Senate voted to erect a statue of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas on the grounds of the State Capitol.

SB 69, the bill that proposed the statue, was sponsored by Republican Senator Ben Watson, whose district includes Pin Point, the Savannah-area town where Thomas was born in 1948. The statue is to be financed by private donations.

In support of the bill, Watson said that Thomas’ life was “marked with tremendous accomplishments” and that the judiciary “deserves a place of honor and recognition” where future generations can be inspired by Thomas’ achievements.

The Georgia State Senate on Tuesday voted 32-20 in favor of SB 69. The bill next goes to the House for debate and, if passed, will go to Gov. Brian Kemp (R) to sign the law into law. This is the second year in a row that the Georgia legislature has pushed the idea of ​​honoring Thomas with a statue. In February 2022, the Senate passed SB 326 on the issue, but the bill did not make it to the House vote before the end of the legislative session in April.

Democrats initially proposed an amendment to SB 69 to include an additional statute by Georgia civil rights leader and congressman John Lewis, who died in 2020, but later withdrew the proposal.

Thomas has long been a controversial figure, and opposition to honoring justice at the State Capitol has been fierce.

Democratic State Senator Emanuel Jones railed against Thomas, calling him an “Uncle Tom” for “betraying his own community.”

Jones elaborated on the meaning he ascribed to the insult, saying it referred to “a person who sold his soul to the slave masters in the days of slavery.”

“When we think of a person in the Black community who is accomplished but whose policies are designed to undermine – some would even say oppress – the achievements and achievements of people of color, I can’t help but think about thinking about that term,” Jones said.

Jones did not specify which “guidelines” he meant, but his comments likely indicated Thomas’s position in recent Supreme Court cases. Thomas has taken an openly critical stance on the policy of affirmative action in college admissions, opposed same-sex marriage, advocated the abolition of substantive rights to due process, and joined the conservative majority of the court to win Roe v. override Wade.

Responding to Jones’ “Uncle Tom” comments on Twitter, attorney and political commentator Elie Mystal called Thomas “more complicated” and “tragic” than the fictional character Harriet Beecher Stowe.

In addition to objecting to Thomas’ jurisdiction, opponents of the statue pointed to the judge’s private life. Ginni Thomas, the judge’s wife, supported former President Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election and even attended a rally at the Capitol on Jan. 2, 2021. Long before that, Thomas faced scandal during his 1991 confirmation hearings over allegations of sexual harassment by Anita Hügel.

Clarence Thomas is the second Black Supreme Court Justice in U.S. history and has served for three decades, shaping American law for generations to come. Thomas was appointed by President George HW Bush to succeed Thurgood Marshall (the court’s first black judge). The descendant of slaves, Thomas was born in rural Georgia and raised by his grandparents and single mother in an impoverished family. He later attended the College of the Holy Cross and Yale Law School.

[Image via YouTube/Library of Congress.]