The Nine [61]
On May 28, 1994, Clarence and Ginni Thomas hosted, and he performed the ceremony for, Rush Limbaugh’s third marriage, this one to Marta Fitzgerald, an aerobics instructor whom the radio host met on the Internet. (The couple soon divorced.) Thomas’s speaking engagements in Washington were almost exclusively in the world of conservative think tanks and lobbying operations. His first television appearance after his confirmation took place on National Empowerment Television, an offshoot of the Free Congress Foundation, which was run by Thomas’s old friend Paul Weyrich, a founding father of the New Right. Thomas visited Weyrich’s office several times and spoke at the group’s fifteenth anniversary in 1993. Thomas spoke at the Heritage Foundation, another prominent conservative group, and he gave the American Enterprise Institute’s Francis Boyer Lecture at the annual black-tie affair that is known around Washington as “the conservative prom.”
There, surrounded by many of the most powerful people in the country, Thomas paid tribute to himself for having the courage to agree with them. The theme of his speech was “the question of courage in American life,” as reflected in his career on the bench. “In my humble opinion,” he said, “those who come to engage in debates of consequence, and who challenge accepted wisdom, should expect to be treated badly. Nonetheless, they must stand undaunted. That is required. And that should be expected. For it is bravery that is required to secure freedom.” Rhetorically, Thomas asked whether it was “worth it” to be as courageous as he had been. “If one wants to be popular, it is counterproductive to disagree with the majority. If one just wants to tread water until the next vacation, it isn’t worth the agony. If one just wants to muddle through, it is not worth it. In my office, a little sign reads: ‘To avoid criticism, say nothing, do nothing, be nothing.’ ” Never, on these occasions, did Thomas acknowledge that he was not some lonely voice in the wilderness but a Supreme Court justice whose votes, more often than not, were in the majority.
Thomas’s status as a conservative hero had tangible, as well as psychic, rewards. Before Thomas became a justice, he was never wealthy; he was already on the Supreme Court when he finished paying off all his student loans. But Thomas made far more financially out of his status as a justice, and a folk hero, than any of his colleagues. He received a $1.5 million book advance from the publishing company owned by Rupert Murdoch, the media entrepreneur who has been a supporter of conservative causes. Rehnquist and Breyer also wrote books, but neither received anything like this kind of money. In touting the book to potential publishers, Thomas told editors that Limbaugh planned to read the book aloud on the air. Thomas said that he would not appear on television morning news shows, fearing attacks from potential interviewers, but he would agree to be interviewed in the more sympathetic environment of Fox News. (The book, My Grandfather’s Son, was published in the fall of 2007. Thomas promoted the book among sympathetic interviewers, and it sold well.)
Thomas received even more direct financial benefits from his job. According to the financial disclosure statements the justices are required to submit, Thomas received $42,200 in gifts over a six-year period. This was more than seven times as much as any of his colleagues, whose gifts tended to consist of crystal figurines and plaques. (Most of the justices accepted all-expenses-paid trips to destinations around the world, where they lectured at universities and met with