Sen. Tim Scott, South Carolina Republican, rushed to the defense of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas as he faces a torrent of vitriol, including racial slurs, after voting to overturn Roe v. Wade.
“I certainly think that the greatest threat to the liberal coalition are Black conservatives who stand up and think for ourselves,” Mr. Scott said on Fox News’ “Jesse Watters Primetime.”
“We represent the fact that the African-American community is not a monolithic community,” he said. “If you can ever break the stronghold that the Democrats have on the African-American community, the entire coalition falls apart.”
Justice Thomas became the focus of the left’s invective last week after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, sending the abortion issue to the states, even though he did not write the majority opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization.
The court’s longest-service justice wrote a concurring opinion urging the court to revisit other decisions rooted in the “substantive due process” legal argument, including landmark rulings on same-sex marriage and birth control, saying such precedents are “demonstrably erroneous.”
Democratic standard-bearer Hillary Clinton called Justice Thomas a “person of grievance” on Tuesday, while Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot yelled “f*** Clarence Thomas” at a rally.
Meanwhile, social media was replete with threats and jabs at Justice Thomas, including racial slurs such as the n-word, “Uncle Thomas” and “Uncle Clarence.”
Former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson said Wednesday the attacks were “nothing particularly surprising,” citing the left’s contempt for Black conservatives.
“For many on the left, the only thing worse than Satan is a Black conservative,” Mr. Carson said on Fox News. “They feel that Clarence Thomas is ripe for particular scorn because he is Black and he’s supposed to think a certain way.”
BYE HATER: @SenatorTimScott tells @JesseBWatters why he believes liberals are trying to cancel Justice Clarence Thomas. pic.twitter.com/9ZpbfUIeGi
— Fox News (@FoxNews) June 30, 2022
Mr. Scott cited President Biden’s falling poll numbers among Black voters, saying “last thing people [on the left] want to see are people like Clarence Thomas, Ben Carson and myself standing up and making common sense popular — everywhere in the nation.”
“And oh, by the way, we happen to be Black,” Mr. Scott said. “That is a great threat to the entire coalition on the Left. So they want to shut it down, cancel Clarence Thomas because he dares to think for himself.”
• Valerie Richardson can be reached at vrichardson@washingtontimes.com.
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