FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 14, 1999
CONTACT: Chris Friesleben, (515) 271-2833
SUPREME COURT JUSTICE THOMAS TO DELIVER LECTURE AT DRAKE UNIVERSITY SEPT. 24
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas will deliver the Dwight D. Opperman Lecture in Constitutional Law at Drake University on Friday, Sept. 24, at 3 p.m. in the Drake Knapp Center, 26th Street and Forest Avenue. The lecture is free and open to the public.
Since his appointment to the Supreme Court in 1991, Thomas has been an influential jurist whose opinions affect the conduct of our government and the routine of our daily lives. Other justices respect his keen intellect, powerful logic and extraordinary research. It has been said that his opinions are written with such clarity as to be understood by ordinary citizens.
Both praised and criticized as an independent thinker, Thomas remains resolute in his commitment to the framework of the Constitution. Again and again, his written opinions on such diverse issues as term limits and interstate commerce have struck down long-standing Supreme Court doctrines in favor of looking at them from the historical vantage of the framers' original intent.
"Justice Thomas has shown himself to be an independent and energetic constitutionalist," said Thomas Baker, law professor and director of the Constitutional Law Center at Drake. "Unlike some other originalists, though, who research what the framers of the Constitution practiced, Thomas pursues the principles they preached, and whether or not they lived up to them. He seeks to recover the principles of the Declaration of Independence in our day."
Born in Pinpoint, Ga., Thomas was raised by his grandfather during the waning years of segregation. He grew up in a home environment of strict rules, self reliance and a sense of community responsibility, all of which he says sculpted his character.
After graduating from Holy Cross College, Thomas headed to Yale Law School where he received his J.D. degree in 1974. He served as an assistant attorney general for the state of Missouri for several years before joining the legal staff at Monsanto Co.
In 1979, Thomas became legislative assistant to Missouri Sen. John C. Danforth; two years later, he was appointed assistant secretary for civil rights in the U.S. Department of Education. He served as chairman of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission from 1982 to 1990 when President George Bush appointed him to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. The following year, President Bush again picked Thomas as his nominee to replace retiring Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall. He took the oath of office on Oct. 23, 1991.
This year's lecture marks the eighth time a current or former U.S. Supreme Court justice has visited Drake to deliver the Opperman Lecture. The event was endowed in 1988 by Dwight D. Opperman, a 1951 graduate of the Law School and 1998 recipient of an honorary doctor of laws degree, to recognize the importance of constitutional law to the nation. Opperman currently is chairman of Key Investments Inc. in Minneapolis.
For more information about the lecture, call (515) 271-2057.