Their connection made an impression on Thomas, who told other clerks that he wanted to write court opinions that "Steve's mother" could understand.
Thomas, with his penchant for conversation and personal connection, forges closer bonds with his clerks than most justices, according to former clerks and other court employees. Thomas's clerks, in turn, are loyal to him.
Clarence Thomas is known for forging closer bonds with law clerks than most justices. Here, he talks with three of his clerks in his chambers in 2002.
(David Hume Kennerly -- Getty Images)
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_____Style of a Justice_____
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Photo Gallery: Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas has a low profile by Washington standards, but is far more engaged than he lets on.
_____Record of a Justice_____
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Interactive Chart: An analysis of Thomas's record compared to other Supreme Court justices.
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A Justice's Private File
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Excerpts: Thomas's Legal Writings
_____More From The Post_____
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Jurist Embraces Image As a Hard-Line Holdout (The Washington Post, Oct 11, 2004)
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Jurist Mum Come Oral Arguments (The Washington Post, Oct 11, 2004)
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In Sharp Divide on Judicial Partisanship, Thomas Is Exhibit A (The Washington Post, Oct 11, 2004)
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Narrowly Defined Image Belies Jurist's Quiet Clout (The Washington Post, Oct 10, 2004)
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Thomas's Across-the-Aisle Aid Puzzles Even the Beneficiaries (The Washington Post, Oct 10, 2004)
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Yale Law Lacks Portrait -- And Thomas's Goodwill (The Washington Post, Oct 10, 2004)
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Thomas v. Blackmun (The Washington Post, Oct 10, 2004)
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About This Series
This series of articles about Justice Clarence Thomas is the result of more than two years of reporting by Washington Post staff writers Kevin Merida and Michael A. Fletcher. The two reporters published a Post magazine article about Thomas in August 2002. Their book on Thomas is scheduled to be published next year by Doubleday.
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In interviews, 12 former Thomas clerks explained how they operate. They each take a portion of the 80 or so cases that come before the court every term. They then develop detailed memos on each case, drawing on the facts in the briefs filed. Thomas and his clerks discuss the memos as oral arguments approach.
The lead clerk on a case initiates the discussion, which opens up to a broader debate among the clerks. The discussions can last for hours and sometimes get heated. Thomas interjects, but he often allows his clerks to duke it out.
"The purpose of the exercise is to bat around ideas -- the more the merrier," said Chris Landau, who clerked for Thomas during the 1991-92 term and is now a partner at Kirkland & Ellis.
From that discussion, Thomas develops a tentative position. The lead clerk then writes another memo for Thomas to take to oral arguments, along with a few questions -- which he almost never asks.
Shortly after oral arguments, the nine justices meet alone in their oak-paneled conference room to decide the cases. Sitting in assigned seats around a long, rectangular table, they present their views in descending order of seniority. After a tentative vote, the senior justice in the majority makes the assignment for writing opinions.
"If you're drafting on behalf of the conference, you try to capture the consensus of the conference," Thomas said several years ago during a question-and-answer session with students at Ashland. "You're writing on behalf of the court, not just yourself."
When Thomas is assigned an opinion or when he writes a dissent or a concurrence, a clerk often produces the first draft, which Thomas then edits. Often, he works from home, as do other justices. Thomas has a kneeler in his home office, and before writing opinions, he sometimes opens a prayer book, kneels and prays, according to a family friend.
"I don't want to think that someone who judges something important about me or my country is having fun doing it," Thomas once said. "I think to the extent to which you get any degree of satisfaction is knowing that you've lived up to your oath as best you could. The rest of the time, it's almost as though you go home and try to survive the experience of judging."
