The left has spent decades trying to stop Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas — from smearing him during his confirmation hearings to waging what critics call dishonest ‘ethics’ campaigns. But as a new book makes clear, those efforts have failed spectacularly.
Going Further: The Incomparable Clarence Thomas, written by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), offers an in-depth look at the justice’s life and career, drawing on insights from Thomas himself. The book traces his journey from poverty in the segregated South to his role as the second-longest-serving justice in U.S. history, highlighting the experiences that shaped his originalist judicial philosophy.
From Pin Point to the High Court
Thomas was born in 1948 in Pin Point, Georgia, a small community founded by formerly enslaved people. Raised in poverty, he and his brother were sent to live with their grandparents in Savannah when Thomas was 7. His grandfather, in particular, instilled in him a fierce work ethic, embodying the phrase that remains with Thomas to this day: ‘Old Man Can’t is dead, I helped bury him.’
Despite an early upbringing in the Catholic Church and a desire to become a priest, Thomas drifted from his faith during his teenage years. Angered by racial tensions and the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., he embraced left-wing radicalism. But after participating in a riot in Harvard Square in 1970, Thomas said he asked God to ‘take hate’ out of his heart — a moment that began his long ‘crawl’ back to the church.
According to Cruz, Thomas started questioning the race-based policies promoted by white liberals, such as affirmative action, even as he clung to leftist slogans. He began searching for truth — a pursuit that would define his life.
A Shift in Worldview
Thomas’s professional path took him through Republican politics, working for then-Missouri Attorney General Jack Danforth and later in the Education Department before chairing the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission under Presidents Reagan and Bush. During this period, his worldview shifted. He developed a deeper reverence for the Constitution and studied America’s founding documents and political philosophy.
‘Thomas’s reverence for the Constitution, already strong, increased tenfold,’ Cruz writes.
Thomas came to reject the idea that the country needed to be destroyed to be improved. Instead, he concluded, ‘The answer to the problems of minorities in the United States was not undoing provisions of the Constitution, but appealing to those provisions,’ according to Cruz.
The Confirmation Battle
Thomas’s rise to the Supreme Court was anything but smooth. After a brief stint on the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals — where he faced what Cruz describes as ‘petty antics’ from then-Sen. Joe Biden and Senate Democrats — his 1991 Supreme Court confirmation became a circus.
Leaked allegations from former colleague Anita Hill accused Thomas of sexual misconduct — claims that Cruz notes were ‘unsupported and riddled with inconsistencies.’ Leftists used the accusations in a ‘blatant attempt to sink his nomination,’ but Thomas refused to back down.
In a now-famous speech, Thomas blasted the proceedings as ‘a high-tech lynching for uppity blacks who in any way deign to think for themselves, to do for themselves, to have different ideas.’
The left’s efforts failed. Thomas was confirmed, and the American people sided with him over Hill by a roughly 2-1 margin, according to polling at the time.
Decades of Attacks — and Resilience
After joining the court, Thomas faced new attacks. Leftists painted him as a rubber stamp for fellow originalist Justice Antonin Scalia, hurled racist ‘Uncle Tom’ epithets, and more recently launched ethics complaints and threats of violence against him and other conservative justices.
Despite it all, Thomas has remained steadfast in his commitment to originalism — interpreting the law based on its original public meaning. That approach has made him a key force in recent Supreme Court rulings on religious liberty, gun rights, free speech, and a colorblind Constitution, according to the book.
Even when the court’s majority doesn’t go as far as he would, Thomas lays down a marker, Cruz argues, showing where the truth lies.
‘Not Done Going Further’
The book portrays Thomas as a man forged by adversity — one who is willing to risk everything for principle.
‘It took courage to turn away from the left-wing radicalism that defined his youth. It took courage to challenge the left’s racial politics. It took courage to keep going when attacked for working for Republican politicians as a black man,’ Cruz writes.
For Thomas, the fight is far from over. As the book’s title suggests, he continues to push forward in his quest to uphold the Constitution — and leftists, despite their best efforts, have not stopped him.
Source: thefederalist.com — https://thefederalist.com/2026/09/02/leftists-tried-to-stop-clarence-thomas-from-going-further-they-failed-miserably/