Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas gives Tocqueville Lecture at Notre Dame

ST. JOSEPH COUNTY, Ind. – Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas spoke on bridging the divide with the nation and touched on decades of racial strife at the University of Notre Dame on Thursday.

Thomas is the second Black Supreme Court Justice and the longest-serving Justice, beginning his career back in 1991. Thomas swore in the newest Justice, Amy Coney Barrett, last year.

“Neither slavery nor Jim Crow defeated us. We recognized that Dr. MLK declared decades ago that the magnificent words of the constitution and the Declaration of Independence were a promissory note to which every American was to fall air.  The history of our nation is our shared struggle to live up to that promise,” Clarence said.

Part of his visit to the university is to co-teach a course in the Center for the Citizenship and Constitutional Government – focusing on themes surrounding politics, including race, class, gender and religion.