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By Root 786 0

in what was for me a completely new environment. Though there was nothing that would rise even close to the level of a discrimination lawsuit, a response which would never have occurred to me, I confronted prejudice nevertheless. The kind so ingrained as to be unconscious but whose cumulative effect can be as devastating as anything made blatant. In the end, the goal of “making partner,” the aspiration of all associates who remain in a large law firm practice, seemed an empty one. Had I understood that I could attain it, I might have been encouraged to stay. But the experience left me somewhat insecure, and I was uncertain that I wanted it or that I could reach it.

I decided to explore opportunities outside private law firms, including positions in the federal government. In the spring of 1981 I spoke with Gilbert Hardy about such a change. Gil by now had become a good friend. We lived in the same apartment building and sometimes walked to work together. Each of us was at a crucial point in our career. He was on the verge of making partner, and I was trying to establish myself as an associate. Gil and I talked about the disappointments of my first few months. He shared my curiosity about other areas of the law, but was invested in the firm (and eventually did make partner). It was in this context that Gil first mentioned Clarence Thomas, a personal friend of his from Yale Law School. Thomas, who was working on Capitol Hill in Senator Jack Danforth’s office, was anticipating an appointment by the Reagan administration. Though I had been in Washington for a few months, I knew little of Danforth and nothing of Thomas.

One of Ronald Reagan’s chief pledges had been to cut government, and as evidence of his sincerity, the new administration instituted a hiring freeze. Washington is a town that reflects the government in place, and in 1981 organizations and law firms there were taking a similarly conservative approach to hiring. Shortly after deciding to leave Wald, I realized the poorness of my timing. A few weeks after my conversation with Hardy, however, he invited me to a small gathering in his apartment. Gil lived only a few floors below me, and I had been there on other occasions. But it was on this visit that I first met Thomas, who was living with Gil temporarily, having separated from his wife. Our conversation was brief. He seemed enthusiastic as we talked about his upcoming appointment and what he thought he might be able to accomplish. He struck me as sincere, if a little brusque and unpolished. In fact, he seemed almost the opposite of Gil, who was naturally charming, often soft-spoken, and almost boyish. “What an odd pair to be friends,” I thought to myself. But Gil and I had become close, and I trusted his judgment. Nevertheless, I expressed skepticism about the administration, in light of Reagan’s rhetoric about the poor. The idea that benefits would “trickle down” to the poor if the rich were assisted by tax breaks and the like struck me as foolish. How were we to know that the wealthy would not just keep the benefits of the government’s efforts for themselves? Thomas was as enthusiastic as I was skeptical, insisting that much of the rhetoric during the campaign and Reagan’s first few months in office would not be administration policy. Thomas had been assured that he would determine the policy of whatever agency he was appointed to. He further assured me that he had a strong commitment to civil rights, which we discussed at some length.

After that meeting I heard nothing from Thomas for weeks. Eventually when he contacted me, we had one or two further conversations about his appointment. From those conversations I realized that we had differences, but Thomas assured me that he was open to new ideas. By the time Thomas offered me a job as his assistant, he had learned that he would be appointed as assistant secretary for civil rights in the Department of Education. I knew a little about that office from a seminar I had attended there between college and law school. And based on that seminar, which involved issues