Legal News

Clarence Thomas on Sarah Palin? Lithwick Takes a Stab

By Dan Slater

Given Clarence Thomas’s belief that affirmative action attaches a stigma to its beneficiaries, what might he say about John McCain’s selection of Sarah Palin as a running-mate?

On Slate and in Newsweek, Dahlia Lithwick tackles the hypothetical. “I can’t help but wonder what Thomas would say to vice-presidential nominee Sarah Palin, who is now suffering the same stigma of affirmative action, and who shows signs of the same blend of defensiveness and outrage that have so shaped Thomas’ career,” writes Lithwick.

She continues:

While it’s possible to assert that Sarah Palin is the most qualified person in America for the vice presidency, only approximately nine people have done so with a straight face. That’s because Palin was not chosen because she was the second-best person to run America but to promote diversity on the ticket . . .That’s certainly a noble goal, but it’s one most conservatives have disparaged for decades. The most savage bits of Thomas’ Michigan law school dissent warn against fetishizing “diversity” as an “aesthetic” concern of “elites.” . . .

Clarence Thomas would say that in its most toxic formulation, affirmative action demands that its beneficiaries be seen and not heard, and that is precisely what Palin is experiencing. Where Clarence Thomas has always excoriated liberals for promoting token blacks so that America might someday look just like a Benetton commercial, John McCain has mastered the fine art of turning women into campaign accessories, a flag pin with nice calves.

LB readers, any thoughts?

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on September 29, 2008 (boomark / email).