U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas speaks during a special lecture celebrating the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence at Hogg Memorial Auditorium at the University of Texas on Wednesday, April 15, 2026. (Jay J …
Clarence Thomas, the towering conservative Supreme Court justice, has reached a new milestone: he’s now the second longest-serving justice in American history.
The 77-year-old conservative has been on the bench for more than 34 years, second only to William O. Douglas. With his influence at an all-time high, court observers say he’s not stepping down anytime soon.
Who is Clarence Thomas?
The backstory:
Thomas, the second Black member of the Supreme Court, was nominated by former President George H.W. Bush and confirmed in 1991 after contentious hearings that included sexual harassment allegations.
Thomas spent years as an outlier on the court, often remaining silent during oral arguments, but that all changed after President Donald Trump nominated three conservative justices for the bench. As the most senior member of the court’s supermajority, Thomas is now the one asking the first questions and writing majority opinions on landmark rulings.
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"I think he’s more energized and excited now than when I first met him," John Yoo, a law professor at the University of California, Berkeley, and former clerk for Thomas, told The Associated Press.
Clarence Thomas’ legacy
Dig deeper:
Thomas and the court’s conservative majority have overturned abortion as a constitutional right, ended affirmative action in college admissions and sharply limited the Voting Rights Act. Thomas’s most notable opinion, though, was in 2022, when the court ruled on a landmark Second Amendment case and found that people generally have the right to carry a gun in public.
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Another large part of Thomas’ legacy is the large network of former Supreme Court clerks who have served in the Trump administration and become federal judges.
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Thomas has more recently come under fire for accepting lavish trips from a GOP megadonor and failing to disclose them. Critics also point to the conservative political activism of his wife, who backed false claims that the 2020 election was stolen from Trump.
The other side:
Thomas has said he wasn’t required to disclose the trips he took with friends and ignored calls to recuse himself from cases related to the election.
The Source: This report includes information from The Associated Press