Jenny Beth sits down with Mark Paoletta, a close personal friend of Justice Clarence Thomas, to give you an inside look at the man who is currently the longest serving Supreme Court Justice. Justice Thomas' story is a great American story that everyone should hear.
Jenny Beth sits down with Mark Paoletta, a close personal friend of Justice Clarence Thomas, to give you an inside look at the man who is currently the longest serving Supreme Court Justice. Justice Thomas' story is a great American story that everyone should hear.
Mark Paoletta is a partner at Schaerr Jaffe LLP, Senior Fellow at Center For Renewing America. Former Trump & Bush 41 Administration Lawyer; Former Chief Counsel for Oversight & Investigations for House Energy & Commerce Committee. Best-selling author of Created Equal: Clarence Thomas in His Own Words (2022). Source: www.markpaoletta.com
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Mark Paoletta (00:00:00):
Even the left today, Jenny Beth say that Clarence Thomas is the most influential thinker, uh, and in significant appointment in 40 years. It's his personal courage as a justice right, that is showing the other justices how to do this.
Narrator (00:00:15):
Keeping our republic is on the line, and it requires Patriots with great passion, dedication, and eternal vigilance to preserve our freedoms. Jenny Beth Martin is the co-founder of Tea Party Patriots. She's an author, a filmmaker, and one of time magazine's most influential people in the world. But the title she is most proud of is Mom To Her Boy, girl Twins, she has been at the forefront fighting to protect America's core principles for more than a decade. Welcome to the Jenny Beth Show,
Jenny Beth Martin (00:00:48):
Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas is a national treasure. He's fiercely independent, courageous, and a staunch defender of the United States Constitution. Ever since his confirmation process for the United States Supreme Court, the left has engaged in a never ending campaign to destroy him. Our next guest, mark Paletta, is one of Clarence Thomas's greatest defenders. Mark is an attorney and author of filmmaker and a personal friend of Justice Thomas. In this episode, you'll hear one of the greatest American stories about a black man born into its extreme poverty in the deep South, and his rise all the way to the United States Supreme Court. Mark pna, thank you so much for joining us today, and thank you so much for being such a staunch defender of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. I I just love how much you love him and want to defend him, and I'm looking forward to our discussion today.
Mark Paoletta (00:01:48):
Thanks for having me on. I, I do love him, and I do love defending him,
Jenny Beth Martin (00:01:52):
The, it's wonderful. So you first met him when you were in college?
Mark Paoletta (00:01:55):
Yeah, I was. Um, it was a great, great, one of these serendipitous stories of going up for a fundraiser for my uncle who was the mayor of Bridgeport, Connecticut. Uh, and my mentor had, uh, and I flew up an Air Force two with the vice President. Uh, and, uh, when the event was over, I went over to another event and, uh, Clarence Thomas was there with, uh, my mentor who had set up the, the trip, which was Tom Lady. And we spent about an hour, uh, at the Hilton in the lobby talking, uh, together and with a couple other people, and it was just electrifying. Uh, he was just such an engaging person. I was a, a college senior. Uh, and again, you'll hear this a lot from anyone who knows Clarence Thomas. He pays attention to you. So here I am. He's the chairman of, uh, the E E O C at the time.
(00:02:38):
This was 19, um, 83, October of 1983. And I just had a wonderful time talking with him. And I, and I, I remembered it when, uh, you know, flash forward, I'm in the Bush 41 White House, uh, in presidential personnel. And we were looking, uh, for pr, you know, candidates to, to pick for the judicial, uh, for, for, for the judgeships. Uh, I was on the Judicial Selection Committee, and, um, somebody raised that we wanted to speak with Clarence Thomas and I volunteered to reach out to him. So in, uh, February of 1989, I reached out to, to Clarence Thomas to, to ask for all of his, uh, speeches and articles as before the internet, of course. Uh, and he sent me over a, a large pack of, uh, of speeches, um, and, and articles, and I read them, and they were electrifying. Uh, and, um, and that began our relationship,
Jenny Beth Martin (00:03:30):
Uh, which has turned into a lifelong friendship. I, I, I seems like to me. So, um, you got to know him and he, he, you helped him help with that process in the White House for his first, his first appointment as a, a judge, right? This is not for the Supreme Court at that, that point,
Mark Paoletta (00:03:50):
Right? Is that correct? Uh, n he ended up getting appointed, uh, in 1990. He was selected in 1989, but I helped him on the DC circuit, uh, okay. Uh, confirmation. Uh, and we became friends, uh, Jenny and my wife Tricia, and, and, and, uh, gotten to be friends with him. Um, and, um, and then lo and behold, in July of, of 1991, uh, uh, president Bush selects, uh, uh, justice Thomas Clarence Thomas to be, um, um, a justice replacing Thurgood Marshall.
Jenny Beth Martin (00:04:20):
And that experience that he went through with his confirmation was really unlike anything we had seen up, up two until that point for the Supreme Court. Is that, is that correct?
Mark Paoletta (00:04:31):
That's right. You know, Jenny Beth, you know, when I read those speeches back in, in 89, you saw Clarence Thomas, uh, you know, sort of standing up for what he believed in and never backing down and driving the Civil rights establishment crazy, driving the left crazy. And, and also standing his ground against other people within the, uh, the Reagan administration. He was just a fiercely independent thinker. And I said, calling people out, you know, and I was wonder, I was wondered whether he could get confirmed, uh, you know, originally to the, to the DC circuit in a Democrat controlled, um, Congress. I think they had 57 Democrats at the time. Um, and it was just, um, uh, I knew it would be tough, right? Uh, and, and, and you saw him getting attacked during the eighties too, uh, when he was in the Reagan administration. Uh, and so right from the get go, you know, he's, he's nominated on July 1st, uh, and he, uh, right from the get go, he's attacked, um, you know, on everything. It was just incoming, incoming, incoming every day. We never thought, right, and through all of this, that it would be these, these lies that came upon at the end with Anita Hill, uh, and these allegations. Um, but it clearly showed that the left wanted to stop Clarence Thomas at all costs.
Jenny Beth Martin (00:05:48):
And, um, I, I was in college when, when that that confirmation was going on, and I remember watching the vote and being so excited that, that he was confirmed. And, um, and just thought what happened to him was, was unreal. But I I, I was, um, probably 20 or 21 years old as I in 1991, and I, I don't think I had a lot to compare it to, cause I hadn't watched a lot of Supreme Court confirmations up until that point. But it just, what was going on with him seemed so horrible, uh, as he, I, I wanna go back in his life a little bit, and then we'll go from that point, from his confirmation forward and talk about the Supreme Court. Yeah. But he, in that moment in time, I think the kind of man that he was when he was defending himself is shaped so much by what happened to him in his childhood Yeah. And his early years. Yeah. Can, can you talk and tell people a little bit about, about his life.
Mark Paoletta (00:06:49):
It's the most amazing, what I'll call American story, right? And, and that's why everyone should know it. Um, he was born in 1948, uh, in, uh, pinpoint Georgia during segregation, in abject poverty, right. To, um, parents who were uneducated, right? His father left the family when he was two years old. His mom had three kids. And pinpoint is sort of 10 miles outside of Savannah, and it's kind of on the marsh, uh, right near Moon River, actually, of the Johnny Mercer song. And it was rural poverty as, as Clarence Thomas says, right? So, uh, but it was in segregation and places you couldn't go and things you couldn't do. Right. And it was terrible. Um, uh, the house he's living in this little shanty, and again, no, uh, one electric, um, one light bulb in the, in the shanty, no, uh, indoor plumbing, right? Holes in the walls that they, they, uh, um, filled in with, uh, newspapers and, and the like, um, just very, very poor, right?
(00:07:50):
But as he said, relatively happy in his little community, because it was a community, right? The shanty that he is living in burns down when he is six years old, and he has to go to live in Savannah with his mom. His mom's a maid. She's been picking crabs in the crab factory and, and, and, and working as a maid for white families in Savannah. And he goes into Savannah to live with her in a one room tenement where he sleeps on a chair. His, his brother, um, um, his sister stays behind in Pinpoint, and his bro, his younger brother Myers, goes with, with Clarence to live with his mom, um, in Savannah. And it's a hell hole, as Clarence says. And he doesn't know where he is going to eat. His mom really can't take care of him. She's working for these, these, these families.
(00:08:32):
He's wandering around the streets as a six year old, not going to school. This is the life that Clarence Thomas was living. You know what I mean? And, uh, and through the grace of God, as he, as he says, right, his mom, who's having trouble raising, um, the, the two, the her two sons goes to her grandfather and grandmother who live in Savannah and say, can you help me? And so he goes to live when he's seven, to go live with his grandparents, um, uh, in Savannah, a couple blocks from where his mom was. And that changes his life utterly. Uh, and as I've described this kind of tough, um, you know, non, um, easy, uh, uh, childhood, his grandfather, the first thing his grandfather says when he sits down is Boys, the damn vacation is over. And Clarence looks at his, his, his younger brother, like, what vacation is he talking about?
(00:09:28):
And he was seven and seven years old, right? And his brother was six, right? Right. And, um, and his grandfather says, from now on, it's gonna be rules and regulations, manners, and behavior. And Myers Anderson, his, his, his grandfather, again, born in 1907 in the deep South, okay, who knows hardship, who knows discrimination, um, had found a way to make it as a, a small businessman with, uh, he first had a coal bus, coal delivery business, and an ice delivery business. By the time Clarence and his brothers came to live with him, it was a fuel oil business. And so, as Justice Thomas said, that was his greatest, uh, learning place to be on the truck with his grandfather every single day, uh, delivering fuel oil. And then during the summer, his grandfather actually built a, a farm, uh, out in Liberty County about 20 miles away, where he spent his summers, cuz his grandfather didn't want him hanging around with friends that might get him in trouble.
(00:10:24):
So, um, it was a very disciplined, very, you know, work-oriented, um, um, childhood that Justice Thomas grew up in. The other significant thing, uh, in addition to going to live with his grandparents, um, in 1955, um, was his grandfather, who was a converted Catholic, uh, enrolled him in the Catholic school there, uh, called St. Benedict's, which was again, under segregation, the all black school. And it was run by these Irish nuns, uh, and led by, uh, sister, um, Mary verus, uh, who became a, a very influential figure in justice Thomas's life. But he goes to the Catholic school with his brother, and that transforms it too, because those nuns who are called horrible things for living in the South and teaching black children, right, are determined to make sure those kids believe in themselves and know that they were equal. Uh, despite these horrible laws and, and teach Clarence Thomas, we're going to hold you to the highest standard. There's no excuses. You're gonna learn everything to send you out into this world, this tough world. Um, but we love you and we are going to, we are going to help shape you. And so between the grandparents and the nuns, that is how Justice Thomas's kind of foundation is made for him to go off into this world and be the person who thinks for himself and never backs down.
Jenny Beth Martin (00:11:56):
When, um, I've read part of the book and I'm, I'm making my way through the, the book right now, one of, um, the things that I, I think is so insightful about, about him is that he says that his grandfather and and grandmother were very, very disciplined with him. And later, a as more of an adult, he's interacting with them and other, other family members who are helping take care of him. And were very disciplined and strict during this time. And they were laid back and casual and just treating him more, uh, as an equal cuz he was an adult then. And he realized how hard and difficult it must have been for them to keep their game face on Yeah. With him. Yeah. To be disciplined so that, so that they could te teach him. And I, I think that that's such a, the, they were getting him up at four o'clock in the morning and making him work and, and sending him to school. And on the weekends there was no play, there were no sports. It was work or going to the library. They let him go to the library all he wanted. And, um, I, I, but, but it takes a lot to realize that that wasn't easy to do that. That sometimes as a parent you have to do things that are very hard, even when, you know, it isn't, it isn't what your, your child wants, but you know, it's what they need.
Mark Paoletta (00:13:14):
That's why this book is so beautiful, uh, uh, cuz justice, as Thomas talks about that both of his, his books, the Created Equal book, um, and, and his memoirs, which are my grandfather's son, that recognition that looking back on his grandparents and, and the nuns and how they needed to keep their game face on, right. Uh, to help, you know, to help raise them and, and teach them what they needed to teach them. Um, and as, and he goes back, right? He goes back and sees his grandfather, obviously, when he is older. But the nuns, uh, now here's Justice Thomas in the 1980s, um, who, you know, and we can talk about his, his, his journey up until that point, but he's still, he's always searching and always questioning, you know, sort of, and trying to be a better person. And he seeks out the nuns, and particularly Sister Regius who's up, who's retired up in Massachusetts by this point, and goes to visit with her.
(00:14:08):
And, um, and again, she was this nice, you know, you know, sort of aunt if you will, a kind. And he is like, wow, you know, she was so firm and and stern with me when I was, when I was a child. Um, and, and that is a, that's a great point in terms of his reflections on it, but just, you know, just thinking about that and Right. You know, parents need to, or teachers need to teach. They're, they're not there to be your best friend. They're there to be your parent or your teacher and teach you right and wrong.
Jenny Beth Martin (00:14:41):
And he also, um, recognizes that while he was living in, in what is rural, rural poverty and in poverty that most us in, in today's America can't even quite imagine, um, that, that it was still safe. You even in the segregated south, yes. He was not running into a lot of, um, uh, uh, uh, of what he ran into later as he was a bit a bit older, and he could walk down the streets and he could walk to school even as a very young child without, people weren't worried that he was going, that harm was going to come to the children because the community looked out for
Mark Paoletta (00:15:22):
One another. That's exactly what it was. Mary Beth, the the community, right? And he talks about the, you know, the responsibilities of the community and how everyone looked out for one another and, and your neighbors and if you were causing trouble, and how that's broken down today. Uh, and so it is an interesting point, uh, of, of, of the, some of the pathologies or, or breakdown in the family. And you, and you kind of runs it back to the government and how the government has intervened and destroyed the family fabric or the community fabric in a way that says, the government will take care of this. Uh, and as he says later in the book, does the government know who you are? You know what I mean? People, you know, in my community, my own, my, he, there's so many. When you, when when you talk to Clarence Thomas and in these books, he always goes back to his grandfather so much, right?
(00:16:10):
There's always these lessons that, you know, it's just, he calls him the greatest man he ever, you know, he had, um, nine months of education, Myers Anderson, right? Three months every year up to the third grade, but nine months total. And he calls him the wisest man he ever, ever knew. And his grandfather said something like, we knew who wanted to work and couldn't work Right? Or didn't want to work and couldn't work. Right. In terms of helping out, uh, people. And that's, and that's what government programs miss a lot, right? And so, um, his, his reflections both on growing up and then looking back at the communities, uh, now and, and, and how they've changed so much, uh, is, is a really interesting part of the book.
Jenny Beth Martin (00:16:57):
It is. Um, and, uh, one thing, I I I think that what your, your, the films that you've helped with, and the, the books help. And part of what I appreciate so much about what you're doing is that Clarence Thomas, just this name, he, he has been so villainized by the left that they, and they're trying to dehumanize him and make it seem like he's just this horrible, horrible villain with no soul and no empathy and whatever o other bad, bad things they can put put on him. But, um, you help humanize him and show who he truly is and, and open these doors to, to let people see this man that they otherwise may never even understand who he is. As I was reading about his early childhood, I'm from Georgia, um, originally, I've, I've moved to Florida in the last year, but I, my whole life, I lived in Georgia, so several months ago, I was like, where is Pinpoint Georgia?
(00:18:03):
Which county is it in? Because in Georgia we do this weird thing where we always call, we pay attention to the counties. I'm like, it's Chatham County. Yes. And, um, my, I have family who is from a really small town in the southeastern corner of Georgia, and I used to to go see them as a small child. And my, my father and my uncles went to spend time with my aunt over the summers growing up in Ebell, Georgia, which is maybe 30 miles away from, from Savannah. So, as I was reading some of that, I'm thinking, you know, my, my dad is down in that, that same area, huh? Maybe a, a little, not exactly at the exact same time, but in very close to those times, seeing a lot of that, that rural country, um, area. And, and my parents and my family was, was not a very wealthy family. So, you know, they, they experienced, it just was interesting to know, I'd been down there and heard some of my dad's stories and that I'm hearing the stories and thinking about what it was like for Clarence Thomas as well. And, and it was humanizing him, which is Yeah. Very important to do.
Mark Paoletta (00:19:12):
You know, so there's a museum down there, uh, the Pinpoint museum. Pinpoint museum, yeah, yeah. Which is, um, literally like, uh, the Crab Factory was the old crab factory, which had fallen into disrepair. And so there's a, that's been renovated. There's a, um, the, the Oyster Factory, the Crab Factory, um, and it's a gr it's a great museum. Uh, it's about, it focuses on the community, which is the Gullah Geechee, uh, C community, um, uh, free Blacks that was founded down, you know, in the 1870s. Uh, and it was a very small, not a town, just a little community, uh, right on the marsh. It's, it's just, it's really, it's really interesting. It's, you feel so far away from everything when you're there, you know? Um, and then about 10 miles, I guess, uh, in, in, you know, is is where Savannah is, where, where ju you know, he then moved, Clarence moved when he was, um, seven and or six to go live with his mom.
(00:20:04):
So they're worlds away. Y you know what I mean? Mm-hmm.
Jenny Beth Martin (00:20:52):
Right in the Garden of Good of Evil. Yeah. There. Yeah.
Mark Paoletta (00:20:55):
And, uh, and as Clarence Thomas says in his own memoirs, I didn't grow up in that area. Yeah. Um, and, uh, so it's a, it's a, it's a great, I, like I said, I encourage your, your, your audience to read his, his, his, his, his memoirs, which are called My Grandfather's Son, uh, which came out, I think in 2008, which goes up to when he goes through his whole, you know, his childhood and his journey to the Supreme Court. But ends on the day, he, he, he, he gets sworn in on at the Supreme Court.
Jenny Beth Martin (00:21:24):
So he, he moves in with his grandfather and he go, goes through his, his childhood and adolescence, and then he goes onto seminary. Mm. And, and briefly touch on that, bef before we get to the, we go back to the nineties when he is sworn, sworn
Mark Paoletta (00:21:42):
In. Sure. So he goes, he, he, he, he does very well. Um, at St. Benedict's, he's a top student. He's an altar boy, um, and he thinks he has a calling to be a priest. So he asks his grandfather, um, can I go to this? Um, you know, this, it's called a minors. He's like high school for, uh, for, for young men who think they wanna be a priest. So he goes off to St. John Veni. Now, it turns out that that was all segregated. And, and Clarence and Clarence Thomas and another, uh, uh, young man were the first two black students to go there. Right? And then that, uh, uh, student, the other student, uh, drops out his next year. So Clarence Thomas is the only black student in the seminary. And he says there, like, you know, I walk in, everyone else is white.
(00:22:26):
I got that. We're different. What do we have in common? And so you see this theme through his life of looking for commonality, right? And, and what brings us together. And so he, there are racial incidents there, and there are things that he has to put up with. Uh, and he talks about that and how he dealt with it, um, and how he wanted to get the highest grades possible, right? Uh, I think the thing at the end, in his senior year in the yearbook says, blew that test, only got in 99, and Clarence Thomas was like, I was determined, right? That I was gonna be the best there was, so that no one could have an excuse for, um, for, for, for discriminating against me other than to expose you for your racism. Okay? Um, and he goes off to a, um, a college seminary in Missouri with, uh, they had become close by the end, um, uh, the students there, and all seven of them, I think it is, they all go after this one college together.
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And he loses his vocation again, not his, he doesn't lose his faith. He loses his, his his, his faith in the church and some of the, again, some racial episodes that happen there, uh, that are just terrible. Um, and he decides, I'm not, I'm not going. I wanna leave the priesthood. Now, when he had asked his grandfather, uh, to allow him to go and pay for the, you know, it was expensive to go to the school, his grandfather said, okay, if you go, you can't quit. And so when Clarence Thomas decides to, to, to, to leave and, and, and quit the seminary, his grandfather, he comes back home and his grandfather says, uh, basically you just quit and you're outta my house. So he kicks him out of the house, um, and he has to go live back with his mother. Uh, this would've been his, basically his, his his freshman year, uh, in college.
(00:24:15):
Um, and he decides that, um, again, one of the nuns that was had been one of his teachers, um, sent him an application, heard he was having problems there, sent him an application to Holy Cross College, uh, up in Massachusetts. And so Clarence Thomas applies there, um, and ends up going to Holy Cross. And through, this is in the summer of 68, when R Martin Luther King is assassinated, when Bobby Kennedy is assassinated. And Clarence Thomas essentially says, um, I, I shoved aside my Catholicism, um, and race and racism, explained everything. And he really sort of embraced black nationalism and said I was a man without a country. And became, as he said, a very angry man. Um, and he goes up to Holy Cross, um, and joins all these protests and ultimately, uh, participates in a riot, uh, in, uh, in, in, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, uh, which really shakes him to his core.
(00:25:13):
And when you see him in this period, it's so, so classic. Clarence Thomas, like, he's, he's clearly kind of left wing, um, but he's, he, he, he's always challenging even his friends on that side, uh, you know, in terms of what he wants to do. Um, and, and, and, and working through those issues. But he ultimately sort of, uh, kind of realizes, I think the destructiveness of, of that approach. And, um, and he stops in front of the church. He'd left the church, uh, after this riot and comes back and he, he looks up, he's standing outside the chapel at Holy Cross, and he says to God, if you take anger outta my heart, I'll never hate again. And as he says, it's a slow, slow return to, to his grandfathers and the nuns principles, um, at, at Holy Cross. Uh, so that's, that's his, his son, kind of his journey.
(00:26:07):
He goes to, um, Yale Law School after that, and it's the first time, um, where the, the kind of the liberal paternalism of the left. He sees it in all, its sort of, um, uh, you know, um, ugliness, uh, and he says that people assume he's there, uh, because of his race. Uh, and, and it, he really resents it. Uh, and, and, um, you know, but by the end of law school, he does very, very well there. He can't a job, uh, you know, and he, he interviews with all these law firms, um, and doesn't get, get, doesn't get an offer. He's a Yale Law grad. He's done very well there. He got the highest grade on, uh, his, um, his paper. Um, and, um, and he finally gets a job with Jack Danforth, who's the Attorney general, um, Republican Attorney General out in Missouri, newly elected. And as, as Clarence says in, in the book and, and the movie, um, the only thing wrong with Jack Danforth is he was a Republican, which was detestable to me. Um, but it was the only job he had went out there and fell in love with, if worth working for Jack Danforth as an Assistant Attorney General in the Attorney General's office out in Missouri, and spend several years out there, and ultimately comes with Jack Danforth to Washington DC when Jack Danforth's just a senator in the late seventies.
Jenny Beth Martin (00:27:30):
And, um, then when, from there, he's, he's in this Senate. So when does he go from the Senate to the, um, to the administration?
Mark Paoletta (00:27:40):
So, um, one thing that happens when he's out in, um, Missouri, and he, and he's, uh, ultimately goes to work for this company, Monsanto in St. Louis, and he comes across Thomas Soul's book, uh, and erases in economics. And that revolutionary or revolutionizes his kind of life in thinking, uh, he falls in love with, um, with, uh, Thomas. So he goes to see him speak, and I say that because he comes to Washington, um, and he's clearly, uh, sort of a Thomas so acolyte and, um, meets Thomas so, and hosts him for, um, for events in Washington. And Thomas Sol because of that, uh, invites him, uh, to, to, to this, uh, convention or this meeting conference, uh, called the Fairmont Conference, which was a, a a, a number of, uh, black conservatives that were getting together at the very beginning of the Reagan administration, uh, just before it started in December of 1980.
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And it's at that conference where Clarence Thomas talks to a Washington Post reporter and talks about his concerns about some of the social policies, uh, on the left and their destructiveness to the black family. And it's, that's that kind of, that Washington Post story that kind of catapults Clarence Thomas into, um, kind of a public figure. Uh, and the Reagan administration sort of, you know, um, you know, is interested in him coming into the administration. And he becomes, at first the assistant secretary for the Department of Education in 1981. Uh, and then ultimately goes over to the E E O C, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission as the chairman in 1983, does a great job there. You know, you have these critics and people, um, uh, you know, trashing Justice Thomas, it's just false. Even the Washington Post, by the time of, uh, near the end of his term there, said he did a great job at the E O C.
(00:29:33):
It had been a complete disaster under Eleanor Holmes Norton and Justice Thomas in running that agency. Didn't think you should just, if anyone a complaint, you just basically, um, have some letter, somebody pays money. Uh, nobody admits guilt on anything, and you get your numbers. What Clarence Thomas said is, if you are discriminating against people, you should be sued, and you should be held accountable. And so his enforcement numbers were much better, uh, than under the, under the, the previous, um, um, chairman, uh, Eleanor Holmes Norton. So, um, did a great job there. And then he be, he, as we started off, he, he gets selected to be on the DC circuit in 1990.
Jenny Beth Martin (00:30:12):
Um, and then he moves on rather quickly and, and goes through that confirmation pro process. Yeah. In, um, the high tech tech lynching, the, the term that he used, it seems to me, especially in the attacks, um, that we've seen in, in recent weeks and, and in recent years, that high tech lynching just con continues. Um, but let's talk about his time as, as Supreme Court Justice. Yeah. And you're an attorney, so you'll be able to, to really do that in a way that makes sense to people.
Mark Paoletta (00:30:46):
Yeah. I'm, so, I think Justice Thomas is our greatest Supreme Court justice. Um, and I don't have to think that it, it, the facts back it up. Um, he, he's written more than 700 opinions. He's our greatest justice in terms of originalism, right? Originalism is a justice who says, I'm gonna look at the clause of the Constitution, the provision where you can talk about a statute. But I'm gonna look at that, that provision and try and understand what the original meaning was of that provision at the time it was ratified. And I'm not gonna try and put my own policy views into it. I'm not gonna try and sort of, uh, try and update whatever the language is and say, oh, this is the right answer, because you're an unelected judge. That's not your job in our system. Right? Our, your job is to apply that constitution faithfully, um, those provisions of the Constitution.
(00:31:39):
That's what Justice Thomas does more faithfully than in my view, any justice in the modern era. And I say that because Justice Scalia was a, was an incredible justice. Um, but in terms of what they call starry decisis, which has previous opinions, and whether we need to let them stay in place, right? Even if we think they're wrong, and there's a school of thought that you really need to let that stuff stay in place. I think Justice Thomas threw his own life and challenging things. And as he says in the book, why are we supposed to stop thinking like goodbye? I'll think on my own. And so you'll see that in lots of opinions where he goes back and says, what's the original meaning of that constitution? Or that, uh, that clause, and maybe a hundred years ago or 50 years ago, the court did something wrong.
(00:32:29):
And then on top of that sort of false edifice, they've built a number of other opinions, and we're all supposed to follow that. And Justice Thomas, more than any other, justice, I think, is willing to go back to the first principles and say, you know what? I'm, I'm, I, I don't agree with that. I'm overruling it now a lot of times. So he goes on the court in 1991, right? And gets attacked. The left tries to belittle him, say he's a puppet of Scalia. Can't think just really, really racist things, right? There's cartoons of him as a member of the kkk. I mean, these are like the crazy things. You see this in this movie. And the, the amazing thing to me, Jenny Beth, is that Clarence Thomas, right? Just gets to work and he starts writing opinions, right? And he brings justices his way, literally from the first conference meeting he has as a Supreme Court justice.
(00:33:19):
We know this because Justice Blackmon's papers, he kept notes. Justice Blackmon was not a very good justice in my view,
(00:34:03):
And so, over 31 years now, he's our 12th longest serving justice in history, okay? Um, and the longest is only I think, uh, six years. Uh, you know, so he's, he, he, he, he will likely be our longest ju serving justice in history. He has more than 700 opinions, and yes, he's been on the court the longest, but he has the most opinions per year average of, of any justice on the Supreme Court right now. Right? He writes like 30 opinions a year, um, where some justices write 10 or 12. So it's an amazing, and, and, and, and, and, and again, from the get go when he was writing solo dissents on different things, right? Um, um, the Second Amendment cases or the administrative state, uh, and, and reigning in agencies, right? To, to, to have Congress write the law that the agencies have to follow and not create law, uh, at, at those agencies.
(00:35:00):
All of those opinions that used to be dissents or kind of solo concurrences are now commanding majorities. And you saw that with Dobbs, right? Justice Thomas voted to overrule Roe v. Wade in 1993, uh, when he first got on the court. Um, and then you see, um, Bruin, which is the Second Amendment, religious liberties cases, um, the, as I mentioned, the administrative state cases, all of these cases are things that Clarence Thomas has laid out, this jurisprudence that the other justices are following, right? That is why we can get to this in a little bit, why the left has gone crazy to try and destroy him now, because he used to be, they'd try to belittle him, and he'd be laying down these, these, these, these opinions. And he wasn't kind of a threat to them, right? As a justice. Now he's in full, he is the, it is the Thomas Court, right? He is the leading justice intellectually, but also Jenny Beth. I think the thing that I'm so encouraged about, it's his personal courage as a justice, right? That is showing the other justice is how to do this, right? One, one thing I think conservatives are always worried about is when you pick a justice, right, they're gonna go left because they
Jenny Beth Martin (00:36:10):
Want, yeah. We worry about that a lot,
Mark Paoletta (00:36:11):
Yes. And, and, and there's been a lot of examples of it, right? Yes. Nobody goes to the right, but everyone goes to the left. And in fact, I was part of the teams that had, um, interviewed the justice, uh, judicial candidates, uh, during the Trump years. And I f i I, I, I found this chart. My, my wife had showed me, uh, the summer before that showed that every justice had become more liberal. So during these interviews, I actually put this chart in front of the judicial candidates that we were interviewing Good. And said, tell me why this isn't gonna happen to you in 10 years. You may be fantastic right now. You may have the greatest opinions, but in 10 years, you know? Um, and so I think that what Justice Thomas has shown, that you, you can be principled and, and, and, and, and come what may, right?
(00:36:58):
As Justice Thomas says, sometimes it's pretty easy to get to the right answer. It's having the courage to actually follow through on that right answer. And so I think that's what he's showing. I think with the Dobbs leak, when that happened last year, which was clearly to intimidate the justices and try and get some of them to come off, I like to think that they saw the courage of Justice Thomas over the years, that they were not gonna come off this opinion. They were not gonna weaken it. And so, as despicable and destructive as that act was, what I see, I'm always a silver lining kind of guy. I saw fi, you know, five justices standing strong in this, in this storm, who didn't, who didn't falter. And I think that spells great things for this court going forward. Uh, and so, um, and I, and I, I run that back to both sort of Juris Prudentially, justice Thomas, laying out a robust, um, you know, um, jurisprudence on originalism, but also then that courage, uh, that personal courage to stand up and do what's right. Uh,
Jenny Beth Martin (00:38:02):
And it took, it, it took determination to see that, um, confirmation process through, because other men, lesser men, would have just stepped down and, and not wanted to go through that fire. So it, I think that as painful, uh, and wrong as that was, it probably helped him understand you have to stand for what's true mm-hmm. And what is right. And then being the sole to center on, on different cases, being only one dissenting. It, it showed he's, I, I'm gonna stand for what's true. And Right. Even if I'm the only one doing it, I'm going to stand up for what is true. And right. And eventually people do see the, the truth can't hide forever.
Mark Paoletta (00:38:50):
I, I truly believe that I, it was early on in his term, it was on a, um, an eighth amendment case and the New York Times called him the Youngest Cruelest Justice, right. Uh, for a solo descent. And, and I've been friends with Clarence Thomas, you know, since then, very close friends. And you know, it, it's never fun to be attacked like that. No. But it never, he has never bent, you know, he is never thought about, oh, you know, let me trim my sails. Let me do what's, what's, what's, what's, what other people want, right? His entire life. What's so neat to see it, and I'm, I, I talk about the left, but also the right, uh, you know, and, and how he was doing things in the Reagan administration and getting pounded on, uh, sometimes, uh, from the other side. He was a guy who was gonna do, you know, justice Thomas is the most engaging person, and when you talk to him, he's just a, but he's, you know, uh, he's gonna do what he, he he thinks is the right thing to do, uh, on the confirmation.
(00:39:51):
What's so beautiful about the movie, um, created Equal is Justice Thomas had recommended to like, truly understand me, Michael Pack should interview Ginny Thomas. So out of this, you know, in this filming, it's 25 hours with Clarence Thomas in six hours with Jeanie. And what's so, uh, gripping, and I really encourage your, your, your, your audience to watch that movie too, is Jeannie talking about how, how, how weak Clarence was when he went back up. You know, when you see him fiery and talking about the high tech lynching and how it had hurt him so much, but he went up there. He was never going to withdraw. He was never gonna, he said, I, I don't run from bullies. I don't like bullies. I'm never leaving. But the strength, he said, I, she said, I knew God was with him cuz I knew how weak my husband was at that point.
(00:40:43):
And it's just this beautiful scene and that juxtaposition of seeing Clarence at the, at the hearing table, and then having Ginny talking about it, you know, 30 years later, um, and how, how much strength it took, you know, to do that. And, um, and how, how the left will destroy you. They don't care about you as a person. They don't care about your life. They, if you don't bend to them, they will destroy you. And that, and particularly as a black conservative, they will utterly destroy you. And you saw them doing that with Clarence Thomas. You're seeing them do it. Now, the part that really bugs me about that, and I've written a fair bit on it, and before I, I have a website, mark paletta.com. I write a lot on Justice Thomas. I have lots of facts, I have lots of information on it.
(00:41:31):
But you know, it is this idea of like Clarence Thomas is this independent thinker, and, and the black leadership wants to say, oh, he's a traitor. Uh, you know, he's a terrible person who pursues policies that are harmful to the black community. It's such a lie. If you look at issue after issue after issue, black Americans agree with Clarence Thomas, and almost every issue that you can, you can think about school choice, right? The NAACP is against school choice, right? 81% of black parents want school choice, right? Affirmative action. There's a case coming up in the Supreme Court right now, right? Right. Uh, where the left is going berserk, right? Berserk. Um, I think that's in part why all these attacks are coming is on this case, okay? And it truly looks like, you know, when you look at justice's past, um, rulings and all that, they're gonna probably strike it down, right?
(00:42:20):
62% of black Americans are opposed to affirmative action in higher education, right? So it's just the craziest thing. But of course, the NAACP and the black leadership are 1000% for it. And so they, they perpetuate this lie, right? Because it's the, the, you know, it's their, it's their funding and their agenda that they wanna drive. Um, but Clarence, and so Clarence Thomas gets chewed up in it. Um, and, and as he said, it allows other people then to attack you and say the, the, the most foul things about you. But he, um, he has his faith, he has his family, and he will never, you know, it's, it's not fun to go through, particularly when they were attacking his wife last year, uh, you know, on, on, uh, all these crazy smears. Yeah. Um, but, um, he's our greatest American and he's had such an impact on the Supreme Court.
(00:43:22):
Um, even the left today, Jenny Beth say that Clarence Thomas is the most influential thinker, uh, and in significant appointment in 40 years. Uh, and so the left is finally conceding. You saw this crazy, terrible documentary. I, I watched everything good and bad on Clarence Thomas that was on PBS the other day. Um, and they're calling it the Thomas Court. They're calling it Clarence Thomas is the leader of the court. These were people who said he wasn't qualified to be on the Supreme Court, you know, uh, a few decades ago. And now he's the leader. So it just shows you perseverance and, you know, and principles is a winning formula.
Jenny Beth Martin (00:44:02):
That that is very good. Um, we, we still, you mentioned Jenny and she's in, in the documentary, talk about her a little bit because she was standing right beside him and sitting in, in the hearing and has been with him throughout all of this, this time. Yeah. And, and she's a, a lovely woman.
Mark Paoletta (00:44:23):
Jenny is a dear friend. I represented her in the January 6th, uh, investigation. And of course, as you recall, that there was crazy things about her in the news, the media, just, they, the Thomas's trigger the left and they lose their mind, as I always like to point out. I, we, she went in for an interview voluntarily, and guess what? The final, what was it? Like an 853 page report didn't mention Jenny Thomas once, not once in there, right. And so all
Jenny Beth Martin (00:44:49):
These, but they, and then they still had to release her video from her deposition or her interview
Mark Paoletta (00:44:53):
Interview, yeah.
Jenny Beth Martin (00:44:54):
Just to, to try to embarra embarrass her, just they'll do anything they can,
Mark Paoletta (00:44:59):
They did. But, but I like to, you know, it was, it, it just, the, the Thomas's trigger, the left. Jenny is a wonderful person. She was a, she's a longtime conservative activist long before she met Justice Thomas. And here's the crazy thing, right? This shows the hypocrisy of the left. Jeannie Thomas is a strong, independent woman who had her own career, right? And, and somehow to the left, that's anathema, right? When Justice Thomas is on the Supreme Court and she's supposed to stay in the kitchen or something like that. Yes. And you literally have these left wing writers, um, saying that, and it's, it, to me, it exposes right? That, that, that their true views on things, just like with black, black Americans, if you don't have the right views, you're we're gonna destroy you. You're not real. Uh, if you're a woman and you have conservative views, you're not real.
(00:45:50):
We're gonna destroy you. And so, and I've written a lot Jenny Beth on how, you know, you, you'd have these similar circumstances of, um, there was one judge on the ninth Circuit, wildly liberal judge. His wife was the head of the A C L U chapter in ca in, in California. And she filed an amicus brief in the court below her husband. And that case went up to her husband and he didn't recuse, and everyone defended him for not recusing, like, you know, and they were like this wonderful couple. But when it becomes the Thomas's and Jenny Thomas has a, a thought that Obamacare should be like over, should, should be repealed by the Congress, not by the courts. Somehow Clarence Thomas has to recuse himself because Jenny Thomas uttered some opinion about the Obamacare. It just shows you the, the, just the hypocrisy and thuggish and insincerity of the left.
(00:46:46):
Um, and so, uh, yeah, the Thomas's are wonderful people. They are each other's best friend too. And that drives the left crazy too, right? That they, um, and again, I don't, it goes back to they like to point, you know, paint this picture. It keeps, you know, um, crumbling of, of Justice Thomas being dependent on white people. Originally it was, uh, um, was, um, Larry Silverman, then it was Antonin Scalia on the Supreme Court, and then his wife. You read these stories from last year. It's just despicable and disgusting, but it exposes the left for what they are.
Jenny Beth Martin (00:47:24):
And then when they, they make those kind of accusations about him, I think the underlying premise that they are saying is that they don't think that a black man can, can be successful on his own in America
Mark Paoletta (00:47:37):
And on his own terms. Like you have to on his own terms. Absolutely.
Jenny Beth Martin (00:47:40):
It either, it, those comments actually are v are racist in their very core. It's not just insulting a man, but it, it is exposing what, what they think.
Mark Paoletta (00:47:52):
It, it, what's interesting is, again, this, this latest documentary, but I, I track this stuff. It's my passion
(00:48:49):
Recently, right. Justice Barrett's, uh, husband and Justice and Justice Barrett, I mean, they don't stop, right? And they wanna destroy the Supreme Court cuz it's no longer, as I call it, a super legislature that's going to imp you know, sort of implement these left wing progressive things like abortion, uh, that have no place in the Constitution and they could never enact nationally. So they have looked for the court for 70 years to help them implement their, their, their agenda. And now that's gone. And again, it goes back to my view, 1991 and Clarence Thomas and, you know, trying to keep him off the Supreme Court. He blew up the Senate Judiciary Committee in that it was the most electrifying thing I've ever been a part of. Yes. To watch that. I mean, I was up there, uh, in the, in those, uh, in the, in the, um, the, the Senate building and reporters, a lot of people thought that Clarence Thomas was actually gonna withdraw that night. I'm
Jenny Beth Martin (00:49:45):
Sure they were hoping for
Mark Paoletta (00:49:46):
It. They were hoping. And they were like, you know, all this whispering and Clarence Thomas goes in and just obliterates them, right? And, and it's was such a satisfying moment. Uh, you know, and then the next day, um, and remember, here's the thing, Jenny Beth, everyone, you, you were in college,
Jenny Beth Martin (00:50:06):
Right? Yeah. I remember watching the hearings. I worked at Radio Shack and we had the TVs on, and when it wasn't busy, it was just going and, and watching. So it was
Mark Paoletta (00:50:14):
One of those almost communal things, right? Cause people didn't have their own personal devices. Exactly. People huddle on TVs. Everyone watched those hearings of a certain age
Jenny Beth Martin (00:50:20):
And everyone was talking about it everywhere. Yes.
Mark Paoletta (00:50:23):
So, and what I like to say is it was unfiltered. People got to, you know, everyone testify, Clarence Thomas, Anita Hill, and all the other witnesses, right? And everyone came to their own conclusion, right? And guess what, 58% of the American people believed Clarence Thomas to what? 24% for Anita Hill. Only 26% of women believed Anita Hill. They watched her and they said, you're lying. Right? Or I don't believe you. And so what happens is, you know, that's in 91. And then when you go on the Supreme Court, what's the left do? It's very, very difficult even today, um, drawing back today. But, um, for justice to defend themselves, yes. Right? In the court of public opinion, what are you gonna do? You have four clerks and a secretary. That's all you have. People think they're these big, they are important people, but they don't have the infrastructure.
(00:51:12):
They don't have a support system. That's why I'm a friend of Justice Thomas. I'm well enough long in my life. I've raised my kids where I can devote time to defending my, my good friend from these attacks. And, but the left continues to attack. Continues to attack, continues to attack. And you know, and I think we could have done a better job over the years, like in the nineties and all kind of pushing back on it, because again, people watched those hearings and realized Clarence Thomas was telling the truth and Anita Hill wasn't. Um, and so what's encouraging today is that there is this fullthroated defense of Justice Thomas and in particular the Republican Senators and, and in the house, um, Jim Jordan and the Republicans did a couple hearings, I testified at last year, um, where they, they invited me to testify. It was Democrats were running it.
(00:52:06):
But to not allow these charges to go unanswered, to call them out for what they are, which is, this isn't about ethics. The all of these attacks on Justice Thomas are, are just, they are what sort of calling it out for what it is, is we wanna destroy people. We want to have the American people not believe in, in that the Supreme Court has integrity and to try and undermine, you know, the Supreme Court rulings. And it's kind of dangerous cuz they're basically saying, don't this, this court is corrupt. Uh, don't follow it when there's nothing. There's zero corruption at the Supreme Court. Yeah. There's zero unethical acts that are being done at the Supreme Court. Um, and it's just a, it's just a gaslighting by the left, uh, uh, of the American people on the Supreme Court.
Jenny Beth Martin (00:52:52):
And, and it's wrong. And it undermines our institutions and the in justify the means and in their minds. So they don't care if they, they harm, they harm one of the branches of government and completely undermine it and undermine the faith of the American people in our way of government and in the greatness of America. None of that matters as long as they can continue to march towards socialism and, and, and communism. Yeah.
Mark Paoletta (00:53:21):
I always like to point out, I point out this when I testified, like the Supreme Court's, um, approval rating right now is in the forties. Okay? But, but Congress is in like 20, right? 75% of the American people disapprove of Congress. So if there's any branch that needs to reform itself with accountability, it's the Congress. Um, and they just seem so unselfaware of this point. Uh, and they wanna attack the Supreme Court. It's kind of, and they keep having these hearings that turn out to be, in my view, disasters. They had a hearing yesterday, um, you know, up in the Senate Judiciary committee that turned out to be a disaster for them. And they shut it down early. Uh, and then they had one, I think a week or two before that where the Republican senators were just on a, a complete route, uh, of the hearing. And so that's the great thing, uh, that's in this day and age with, with the members of Congress who are fighting mad about this and wanna defend Justice Thomas and the other justices from these attacks.
Jenny Beth Martin (00:54:21):
Um, before we wrap everything up, go through, you brought the books with you? With you Yeah. And you talked about the documentary. Um, what, how did the documentary come to be and what is so amazing about the access that the documentarians hat?
Mark Paoletta (00:54:40):
So I mentioned, you know, worked on his confirmation, um, gets confirmed. I go off, I'm working and, and, and, um, I have four wonderful children where my wife and I are raising, but he keeps getting attacked by, by 2016, there's another movie. There's so many anti Clarence Thomas movies. This one's called Confirmation starring Kerry Washington, which was on hbo. And I sort of like blew a gasket. I was so angry about it. And so I thought, you know what? Let's make a movie. Let's, I set up a website, justice thomas.com, that's got a lot of great stuff on it. Um, his opinions and articles and videos and stuff like that so people can learn about him. And, um, and so I, I talked to some friends and we connected up with Michael Pack, who's a wonderful documentary filmmaker. All of his films have been shown on pbs.
(00:55:25):
Okay. And he was interested in making this film. And so, uh, it's called Created Equal. And Michael is just a genius. He really got Clarence Thomas. I spent a lot of time with Michael Pack. I'm the one who, um, um, you know, talked to Justice about sitting down with Michael Pack. Um, and it turned out to be Jenny, about 25 hours of one-on-one interviews that Michael Pack did with Clarence Thomas over the course of several months. They were usually four hours, um, sessions. Okay. Everything on his life, you know, from soup to nuts. Right. You know, right. To the, this is 2018, we're done 2017 and 2018, where the, where the interviews. Um, so that's the origin of the film. Um, no Justice has ever sat down for 25 hours, you know, and it was a really neat thing. It's just, it's like Clarence Thomas, like looking directly into the camera and Michael Pak, you know, interviewing him.
(00:56:20):
Um, and, and one thing that Justice Thomas had said was Interview my wife. Right. I would recommend. So we did Six Hours with Jenny. Um, and so that movie is just this beautiful movie. I urge everyone to see it. It's such a wonderful movie on Clarence Thomas. And you can talk about all the lies. You can talk about all the things that the Left is doing. The best way to counter that is to watch this movie and learn about the real Clarence Thomas and what an amazing life. What an amazing man he is. Okay. Now, as we made that movie, okay, uh, it's 25 hours. It's a two hour movie that's gonna be on pbs. That means there's at least 23 hours that are not gonna be shown. And more than that. So there's probably, I don't know, 70 minutes of, of of footage that's in the movie and, and some with Ginny.
(00:57:06):
And it was just killing me as we made these cuts. There were certain things I thought when I was sitting there, I sat through the, the interview sessions right off to the side and I'd hear Clarence Thomas say something. I'm like, wow, that's gonna be a great thing in the movie. But it either took too long to say for a film or it was just, you needed to cover all these different things cuz you're doing a movie on his life. So, so at a certain point a light went off like, we need to gather up this footage, all this interview stuff and make it into a book. So that's what, when I left, I was in the White House at the time, um, and I knew I couldn't work on the book to, to that extent until I left. So when, uh, when I left the White House in, in, in January 21, I signed a contract with Regnery and I think March or so, maybe a little bit later April.
(00:57:50):
And, uh, this is the book that that came about, which is sort of the extended interview with Justice Thomas. So it's 95% of it is not in the, in the movie. All the movie stuff is in there cuz that's like the best stuff. Right? Right. But there's other things about, you know, books and commentary on sort of the current world and a little bit more on his jurisprudence and um, um, in his, in his life and just, it's just a beautiful book that's very conversational. He's sitting there talking to Michael Pak who's asking him everything under the sun. And it's just a, it's a, it, I'm, I can sort of say how great it is cuz it's not my words. It's Clarence Thomas's words. Right. And, uh, it's a beautiful way to learn about Justice Thomas in a very accessible way. It
Jenny Beth Martin (00:58:37):
It is a very good book. And the documentary is very, very good. And then he has his own book.
Mark Paoletta (00:58:44):
Yeah. So this book right here is, uh, called My Grandfather's Son and Justice Thomas, I think it was published in 2008. And he like
(00:59:32):
Oh, wow. Um, and, but then it took until a couple years ago when we went back to the publisher and they released it on, on, on Audible, on digital, in his own voice and on, uh, Kindle. So for the first time in the, in the past couple years, it's available on, on, on, on Audible and, and and Kindle. Um, but it's a beautiful book. Um, I have to say it's the most beautiful book in terms of his life. Um, our book is a little different. It covers the same ground in different ways, but brings it all the way up to 2018 where this stops in 1991. Um, and so he doesn't talk about what being on the court or his colleagues and what he thinks of Justice Scalia and all that sort of stuff, which is in, in, in my book, uh, created Equal. Um, I'd urge I'd urge your, your, your audience to, to do all three of them. Yes. Watch the movie. Yes. And I get both books.
Jenny Beth Martin (01:00:24):
Um, I, I urge, I urge that as well. Um, and he does not, he's known for not talking very much. So these are ways to get to, to see him and to hear him when, when you don't actually get to do that during what's happening on the court. Yeah. And, um, and generally speaking, the justices on the court, they're, they're, they're very well known people, but they're also, the public doesn't get to know them very well. So this is a good way to get to know them. It's,
Mark Paoletta (01:00:58):
It's, it's a great way to get to know Justice Thomas. And he has the most remarkable life of any justice on the Supreme Court. Yes. You know, and, and any American really, and certainly in, in public office. So it's just, it, it's about an, an amazing life showing this amazing country. Uh, and, um, and so it, they're, they're, they're, they're well worth the time.
Jenny Beth Martin (01:01:21):
Excellent. So we will make sure that we include links to those in the description of, of this podcast and the, the, um, video version of it as well. I is in, you mentioned your website, mark paletta.com and also Justice thomas.com. Yep. And are there any, you're on Twitter.
Mark Paoletta (01:01:41):
I'm on Twitter at at Mark Paletta, which is M a r k P A O L E T T A. I tweet a lot with a lot of facts on all these crazy attacks on Justice Thomas
Jenny Beth Martin (01:02:03):
It's important because it'll be a new hit piece out and then you just come out and refute it. So it's a good place for, for the audience to go to, to find out the facts, to, to counter the hit pieces. And I think they're going to continue.
Mark Paoletta (01:02:18):
They are continue. Um, but as I said, the court has been galvanized. Justice Thomas isn't leaving anytime soon. You know, when he went on the court, he was 43 years old. Okay. And, um, he's been on the court, 31, he said, when he was confirmed, they took away my first 43 years. I'm serving at least 43 years, so we're at least 12 years out. And I think these, these attacks, um, are gonna have him serve even longer, uh, than 12 years. So, um, so he's a young man by Supreme Court standards. He's in good health and he loves his job. He loves it. And so, um, so, so the, the attacks can continue. They're terrible. But Clarence Thomas is gonna keep doing his job, as he says, and laying down in jurisprudence that's faithful to the US Constitution.
Jenny Beth Martin (01:03:09):
And that is good for all Americans. Even when you don't realize it and, and you're frustrated by the opinions, making sure that we adhere to the Constitution is good for our country and it's good for all Americans. And I'm, I am so thankful for Justice Thomas, and I'm thankful for you for just sharing so much about him and being such a strong advocate. And it, I just, being around you and having read a lot of what you've written about him, it's obvious that you're doing this from a, a place of friendship and love Yeah. And respect. And, and we all need someone like you advocating for us in our life, but I'm so, well, hopefully we don't all need it. Hopefully we're not under the same kind of attack that he's under, but, but I'm so thankful that you're there doing that for, for him. So thank you very much and thank you Mark for, for being here today and, and telling, letting people get to know Clarence Thomas better. And, and, and now they all have hours more work to do to get
Mark Paoletta (01:04:16):
Jenny Beth, thanks for having me on.
Jenny Beth Martin (01:04:17):
And this was Mark Paletta and he has a website, mark paletta.com and also justice thomas.com.
Narrator (01:04:25):
The Jenny Beth Show is hosted by Jenny Beth Martin, produced by Kevin Mooney and directed by Luke Livingston. The Jenny Beth Show is a production of Tea Party Patriots action. For more information, visit tea party patriots.org.
Jenny Beth Martin (01:04:44):
If you enjoyed this episode and want to stop Freedom Thieves from turning our country into a communist nightmare, be sure to click the thumbs up and subscribe to the channel. And while you're at it, click the notifications bell to get an alert every time we post a new episode. I.