Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas visited the University of Texas at Austin on Wednesday, April 15th, to give an address marking the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, calling on students and citizens to rediscover the ideals that gave the Declaration its power. The speech, hosted by UT Austin President Jim Davis, drew on Thomas’s upbringing in segregated Georgia to argue that America’s founding principles are not relics of philosophy but lived truths that demand personal sacrifice.
Thomas opened by reflecting on his ties to the university, recalling his first UT law clerk, Greg Coleman, who later became the first Solicitor General of Texas. He acknowledged Coleman’s widow, Stephanie, and Judge Edith Jones of the Fifth Circuit, whom Thomas called “one of my heroes” as both a person and a jurist.
The core of Thomas’s address centered on how he first encountered the principles of the Declaration of Independence, not through textbooks, but through the adults who raised him in the segregated South.
“At home, at school, in the church, we were taught that we are inherently equal,” Thomas said. “That equality comes from God, and that it could not be diminished by man. We were made in the image and likeness of God. That proposition was not debatable and was beyond the power of man to alter.”
Thomas explained that living under segregation made it obvious that your rights did not come from the government. “Others with power could treat us as unequal, but they lacked the divine power to make us so,” he said.
He also argued that the Declaration’s most indispensable passage is not its famous preamble but its final sentence: “We mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor.”
“Without that sentence, the rest of the Declaration is mere words on a piece of paper,” Thomas said. “What changes the world is not the words, but the commitment and spirit of the people who are willing to sacrifice and even give their lives.”
He grew emotional recounting how his grandparents sat at their kitchen table in August of 1950 and committed everything to raising him and his brother. “They told us, ‘We don’t have no education and no chance, but you boys are going to have a chance. We’re going to devote the rest of our lives to you boys,'” Thomas recounted. “Their devotion is what matters.”
Thomas framed his address as a charge to the university, calling the 250th anniversary of the Declaration “the most important moment” to restore civic education. He defended the Declaration as “one of the greatest anti-slavery documents in the history of Western civilization” and warned that devotion to its principles is what America is missing today.
In a Q&A moderated by Provost Inboden, Thomas was asked whether he had ever ruled in a way he personally disagreed with. He recalled the Haitian refugee case early in his tenure.
“In my heart, I felt for the Haitians. It broke my heart,” Thomas said. “I spoke with Chief Justice Rehnquist, and he said, ‘You have to do your job.’ That was the moment where you learn: this is my role, and I have to accept it.”
On whether the Court has become too political, Thomas compared it to a football referee. “When the referee makes a call in your favor, you say nothing. When the call goes against you, you call the referee political,” he said. “That is exactly what is happening.”
Thomas also pushed back against the dominance of Ivy League law schools in Supreme Court clerkships. “Smart kids can be found virtually anywhere,” he said, pausing before adding with a grin: “I’ve even heard of a place called Texas A&M.” The remark drew loud boos and laughter from the UT audience.
Thomas closed by urging students to study history deeply. “We owe it to our fellow citizens to educate ourselves about our history,” he said. “It’s like football players who do the reps, the conditioning, all of it in the off-season. We have to do the exact same thing. We have to be prepared.”
