Black Conservatives Promote Justice Thomas for Top Spot on SCOTUS
by Chad Groening
January 20, 2005
(AgapePress) - A conservative black organization believes Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas is well qualified to become the next chief justice, if and when William Rehnquist decides to retire. But the group says it is not happy with comments about Thomas made by the minority leader in the U.S. Senate.David Almasi is director of Project 21, the National Leadership Network of Black Conservatives. Project 21 is calling for Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid to apologize for telling NBC's Meet the Press that Thomas is "an embarrassment to the Supreme Court." Almasi takes issue with Reid's assessment of Thomas's credentials.
"Scholars of all stripes have come out saying that he has done some good things on the court, so I don't think that his scholarship can be questioned anymore," Almasi says. "However, Harry Reid has found reasons to do so."
The Project 21 spokesman says Thomas should be considered a top candidate to become the next chief justice of the nation's highest court. "The best person for the job should be the one who gets it," he says. "But Clarence Thomas has certainly proved himself to one of the leading justices on the court right now -- and he should certainly be one of the final people looked at, if and when that situation comes about."
And in Almasi's estimation, Thomas is not the only sitting justice qualified for the position. "Certainly what you should be looking for in a chief justice is someone who can help guide the court, someone who can help set the tone," he offers. "And Clarence Thomas [and] Antonin Scalia [have] both shown, I think, a belief that the president shares -- and would both be good nominees for the president to select when [Chief] Justice Rehnquist retires."
The chief justice recently returned to the bench after an extended absence, during which he received treatment for a form of throat cancer. He has not announced whether he plans to retire anytime soon because of health issues.
Chad Groening, a regular contributor to AgapePress, is a reporter for American Family Radio News, which can be heard online.
