Ted Cruz on Clarence Thomas, Brett Kavanaugh and the Confirmation Wars That Changed Washington | Record Rewind

Greta Wire

Senator Ted Cruz discusses his new biography of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, detailing Thomas's remarkable journey from poverty in

Key takeaways

• Clarence Thomas overcame extreme poverty and racism through discipline, hard work, and intellectual pursuit.

Main topics

• Clarence Thomas's early life and upbringing in rural Georgia
• Thomas's evolution from left-wing radical to conservative jurist

Notable quotes

"When they walked in the door, boys, the damn vacation is over." – Myers Anderson to Clarence Thomas upon arrival.

Conclusion

Ted Cruz presents Clarence Thomas as a powerful example of personal transformation and enduring

Transcript preview

Speaker 3 (0:00) The Greta Wire podcast is presented by Paramount+. Speaker 1 (0:05) This isn't the end of a fight. It's the start of one. Lioness, the critically acclaimed original series from Taylor Sheridan, now streaming only on Paramount+. In the new season, hidden networks, foreign operatives, and personal betrayals collide while Joe walks the line between duty and family. Don't miss Lioness, starring Zoe Zaldana and Michael Kelly, with Morgan Freeman and Nicole Kidman, now streaming only on Paramount+. Speaker 4 (0:36) Senator Cruz, nice to talk to you and congratulations on your new book going further. Speaker 2 (0:42) Thank you, Greta. Great to be with you. Speaker 4 (0:45) Senator, it was a very interesting book. I learned a whole lot that I didn't know because we don't know much about Supreme Court justices because they live a rather cloistered life and we just know about their confirmation hearings. But the first thing that I wonder is you clerked in the Supreme Court for Justice Rehnquist, who's a chief justice, yet you wrote the book about Justice Thomas. Why? Speaker 2 (1:07) Well, I think Justice Thomas is one of the most consequential people to have ever lived. He has an extraordinary personal story, and it's a story that I think Americans need to know, that they need to hear. You look at Justice Thomas, he was born into abject poverty in rural Georgia. He faced vicious racism growing up. He had every disadvantage. And he traveled an incredible journey all the way to the utter pinnacle of American law. You know, when he was growing up, he was raised by his grandparents because his mom was not able to care for him. And his grandparents, his grandfather in particular, Myers Anderson was his name. If you want to understand Clarence Thomas, you have to understand Myers Anderson. He was a hard man. He was a disciplinarian. He worked. Clarence and his younger brother worked them hard. In fact, when they came to live with him, they had come from really dire poverty. And Myers Anderson said when they walked in the door, boys, the damn vacation is over. And he would get the boys up at three and four in the morning. and they would deliver fuel oil with them. That was Myers-Anderson's business. And they would do it often in the bitter cold of the winter. And he would not let the boys wear gloves because he thought wearing gloves was a sign of weakness, that they needed to be tough, they needed to be strong. And the one exception to hard work, because he would work them every waking moment. was reading. Because Justice Thomas' grandparents, they were illiterate. Neither one of them could read or write. And they wanted their grandsons to have a better life than they did. And so Clarence Thomas, as a little boy, would go to the library and sit there and just read and read for hours. And he became an excellent student. And at the time, he developed a desire not to be a lawyer, not to be a judge. but to become a priest. And so he went to seminary, went to seminary for high school, he went to seminary for college, and he found great refuge in the order and discipline of the Catholic Church, of the tradition. He found great peace. But he ultimately became disillusioned with the church, and he became angry at God. because he felt the church was not standing up to racial discrimination, was not fighting for civil rights. And so it ended up with him leaving the seminary and leaving the church for many years of his life because he was so disillusioned. And he went off to college at Holy Cross for undergrad and then Yale for law school. Speaker 3 (4:08) And when he was in school, he was a left-wing radical. Speaker 2 (4:13) He was angry. He described himself as an angry young man. He wore camouflage pants and combat boots. He had a poster of Malcolm X on the wall. He took part in a riot in Harvard Square. And his entire time as a student, he was a hard left radical. And so, Greta, what I try to do in this book is three things. Speaker 1 (4:41) One, Speaker 2 (4:42) tell the incredible story of Clarence Thomas' life and overcoming adversity. Two, describe the intellectual journey of going from a hardcore, angry left-wing radical to becoming one of the most important conservative thinkers in the world. And then number three. Speaker 2 (5:07) Justice Thomas wrote an autobiography. It's called My Grandfather's Son. It's a wonderful book. I highly recommend it. But his autobiography ends when he gets confirmed to the Supreme Court. He's now been on the court more than 30 years. He is today the second