Conservative Clarence Thomas, who skipped the President’s State of the Union address because it has become so partisan, defends the Supreme Court ruling that Obama criticized during his speech:
“I found it fascinating that the people who were editorializing against it were The New York Times Company and The Washington Post Company. These are corporations.”
“Go back and read why Tillman introduced that legislation. Tillman was from South Carolina, and as I hear the story he was concerned that the corporations, Republican corporations, were favorable toward blacks and he felt that there was a need to regulate them.”
“It is thus a mistake to applaud the regulation of corporate speech as some sort of beatific action.”
“If 10 of you got together and decided to speak, just as a group, you’d say you have First Amendment rights to speak and the First Amendment right of association. If you all then formed a partnership to speak, you’d say we still have that First Amendment right to speak and of association.”
On why he didn’t attend the State of the Union address:
“I don’t go because it has become so partisan and it’s very uncomfortable for a judge to sit there,” he said, adding that “there’s a lot that you don’t hear on TV — the catcalls, the whooping and hollering and under-the-breath comments.”
“One of the consequences is now the court becomes part of the conversation, if you want to call it that, in the speeches. It’s just an example of why I don’t go.”
