{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.cruz.senate.gov?p=press_release&id=2928", "Sen. Cruz Calls On the Smithsonian to Include A Fair and Accurate Portrayal of the Incredible Life of Justice Clarence Thomas", "2016-12-19", "2016", "2016-12", "Republican", "House", "TX", "Ted Cruz", "C001098", "www.cruz.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "WASHINGTON D.C. \u2013 U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R- Texas) today sent a letter to leaders of the Smithsonian Institution urging them to include an accurate legacy and biography of Clarence Thomas in the National Museum of African American History and Culture. Justice Thomas rose through segregation and discrimination to become a leading voice for originalism on the Supreme Court of the United States, but the recently opened museum fails to recognize his extraordinary accomplishments in any exhibit.\u00a0\n\u201cAs much as I am grateful for the museum and its efforts to preserve and promote the indispensable, yet oft-neglected, contributions of African Americans to the collective history of our nation, I believe the museum has made a mistake by omitting the enormous legacy and impact of Justice Thomas, as well as his compelling background,\u201d Cruz wrote.\n\u201cIn summary, Justice Thomas climbed from Pin Point, Georgia, prejudice, and poverty to the pinnacle of the legal profession, to where he is now an intellectual leader on a Supreme Court that is more influential than ever in the most powerful nation on earth.\u201d\nRead the letter in its entirety here and below.\u00a0\nDecember 19, 2016\u00a0\nMr. David J. Skorton  Secretary of the Smithsonian  Smithsonian Institution  Post Office Box 37012  Washington, DC 20013-7012\nMr. Richard Kurin  Acting Provost / Under Secretary for Museums and Research  Smithsonian Institution  Post Office Box 37012  Washington, DC 20013-7012\nMr. Lonnie G. Bunch III  Founding Director  National Museum of African American History and Culture  Post Office Box 37012  Washington, DC 20013-7012\nDear Dr. Skorton, Mr. Kurin, and Mr. Bunch,\nMany congratulations are in order for the immensely successful opening of the National Museum of African American History and Culture. \u00a0The new museum has been rightly praised for its detailed, complex, and powerful portrayal of the African-American experience in the United States. \u00a0As the Wall Street Journal and New York Times have observed, the museum is simultaneously uplifting and upsetting\u2014and it should be, given that the tapestry of our nation\u2019s history includes both the disgraceful epoch of slavery and the inspiring endeavors of legendary African-American leaders like Harriet Tubman, Frederick Douglass, and Martin Luther King, Jr.\u00a0\n\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 It is about one of these leaders that I write you today: Clarence Thomas, the second African-American justice to sit on the Supreme Court of the United States, as well as the longest serving African-American justice. \u00a0As much as I am grateful for the museum and its efforts to preserve and promote the indispensable, yet oft-neglected, contributions of African Americans to the collective history of our nation, I believe the museum has made a mistake by omitting the enormous legacy and impact of Justice Thomas, as well as his compelling background.\u00a0\n\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Even in the context of the countless African-American heroes from U.S. history, few \u201cagainst all odds\u201d tales are more inspirational than that of Justice Thomas. \u00a0To quote one Thomas expert, Mark Paoletta:\u00a0\n[Thomas] grew up in the segregated deep south of coastal Georgia. \u00a0Because of his Geechee heritage, he experienced discrimination from other African Americans as well as from whites. \u00a0Thomas was fortunate that he was sent at age seven to live with his grandparents, who were both strong role models. His grandfather, Myers Anderson, was uneducated but built a small business delivering fuel oil, coal, firewood and ice in the Savannah community. \u00a0He instilled the values of hard work, perseverance, and accountability. \u00a0He used to tell Thomas and his younger brother, \u201cOld Man Can\u2019t is dead. I helped bury him.\u201d\nEver his grandfather\u2019s son, Justice Thomas also helped bury \u2018Old Man Can\u2019t\u2019\u2014in spectacular fashion. \u00a0Justice Thomas\u2019s dramatic journey from enduring entrenched racial discrimination to serving on the highest court in a country of 320 million people is one that should be shouted from the rooftops to all Americans, regardless of race or ethnicity.\n\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 And Justice Thomas\u2019s historic rise is only half of the story. \u00a0This year, we commemorate the 25th anniversary of his appointment to the Supreme Court. \u00a0In a quarter century, Justice Thomas has carved out one of the more profound and unique legacies in the Court\u2019s history. \u00a0Never afraid to oppose the prevailing trends of the day, Justice Thomas has become the Court\u2019s foremost adherent to the idea that the Constitution should only be interpreted in accord with the document\u2019s historic and original meaning, as opposed to the \u201cliving Constitution\u201d doctrine that has pervaded both the Court and the legal academy for decades.\nAs is typical when challenging an entrenched orthodoxy, Justice Thomas\u2019s impassioned commitment to originalism has earned him sharp criticism over the years\u2014some of it measured, but much of it vitriolic and disingenuous. \u00a0It has also earned him effusive praise, however, and not just from like minds. \u00a0CNN legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin, often a harsh Thomas critic, admitted in The New Yorker in 2011 that Thomas had \u201cemerged as an intellectual leader of the Supreme Court\u201d whose influence has \u201cbeen recognized by those who generally disagree with his views.\u201d \u00a0No other Justice, Toobin observed, \u201cstudies the historical record with as much care, and enthusiasm, as Thomas.\u201d \u00a0Moreover, according to Toobin:\nThe implications of Thomas\u2019s leadership for the Court, and for the country, are profound. \u00a0Thomas is probably the most conservative Justice to serve on the Court since the [1930s]. \u00a0More than virtually any of his colleagues, he has a fully wrought judicial philosophy that, if realized, would transform much of American government and society.\nSimilarly, Tom Goldstein, a Supreme Court expert and the founder of the increasingly influential SCOTUSblog, wrote:\nNo other member of the Court is so independent in his thinking. \u2026 I disagree profoundly with Justice Thomas\u2019s views on many questions, but if you believe that Supreme Court decision-making should be a contest of ideas rather than power, so that the measure of a Justice\u2019s greatness is his contribution of new and thoughtful perspectives that enlarge the debate, then Justice Thomas is now our greatest Justice.\n\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 In summary, Justice Thomas climbed from Pin Point, Georgia, prejudice, and poverty to the pinnacle of the legal profession, to where he is now an intellectual leader on a Supreme Court that is more influential than ever in the most powerful nation on earth. \u00a0And on top of that, as I can attest from my personal experience as a law clerk at the Supreme Court, he is well known behind the scenes as one of the most jovial, down-to-earth, and gracious personalities to ever don the robe. \u00a0Stories of his kindness, generosity, and humility abound.\nAs such, I became deeply disturbed upon learning that Justice Thomas\u2019s moving story and incredible contributions to the country are not even mentioned, much less discussed in detail, in the new museum. \u00a0Making matters worse, the only reference to Justice Thomas is in regard to a single individual\u2019s controversial accusation against him at his Senate confirmation hearing twenty-five years ago\u2014an accusation that was contradicted by numerous witnesses and rejected by the Washington Post, the Democratic-controlled Senate, and the American public at the time. \u00a0I am concerned that millions of Americans, of all ages, races, religions, and walks of life, when passing through this museum, will be subjected to a singular and distorted view of Justice Thomas, an African-American who survived segregation, defeated discrimination, and ascended all the way to the Supreme Court.\u00a0\nI fully understand that a museum cannot include every bit of relevant information, nor can it tell every tale. \u00a0Many great people and their stories had to be omitted from the museum, I am certain. \u00a0But, with all due respect, Justice Thomas\u2019s story is not just any other story. \u00a0Rather, it is a story uniquely compelling in the annals of United States history, African-American or otherwise. \u00a0In my view\u2014and in the view of Senator Tim Scott, who sent a similar letter recently\u2014a Thomas exhibit would fit perfectly in the section of the museum entitled \u201cMaking a Way Out of No Way.\u201d \u00a0Indeed, if you were to travel back in time to Pin Point, Georgia, in 1948, and ask that community whether a newborn in Justice Thomas\u2019s circumstances could someday sit on the Supreme Court of the United States, I am confident the answer of most (if not all) would have been: No Way. \u00a0And yet, by the grace of God, 68 years later here he is. \u00a0 \u00a0\nTo be clear, I am not petitioning for a partisan hagiography of Justice Thomas, nor am I asking that everything critical of him be excluded. \u00a0I am simply requesting that a fair and accurate portrayal of his powerful story be included, for the great benefit of millions of future museum-goers. \u00a0This could perhaps best be done with a balanced display discussing Justice Thomas and the esteemed Thurgood Marshall, the Supreme Court\u2019s first African-American justice. Justice Marshall is briefly praised in the museum, but only in reference to his participation as a lawyer in the famous Brown v. Board of Education decision. \u00a0An exhibit showing the inspirational beginnings, journeys, and vastly different judicial approaches of Justice Marshall and Justice Thomas makes much sense. \u00a0After all, in 240 years, only three African Americans have served at the highest level of the executive or judicial branches of our great country\u2014Justice Marshall, Justice Thomas, and President Barack Obama. \u00a0President Obama has a large presence in the museum, so it would be appropriate to also examine Justices Marshall and Thomas.\nIn his closing, the museum reviewer for the New York Times writes: \u201cI also suspect\u2014hope, actually\u2014that the museum will never be finished, or consider itself so; that its take on African-American history, which is American history, stays fluid, critical and richly confused: real, in other words.\u201d \u00a0I hope for the same thing, and appreciate your consideration of this request.\nVery truly yours,\nTed Cruz   Chairman  Subcommittee on Oversight, Agency Action,  Federal Rights and Federal Courts\nCc: The Honorable Charles E. Grassley  Chairman  Senate Committee on the Judiciary\n  The Honorable Patrick J. Leahy  Ranking Member  Senate Committee on the Judiciary\n  The Honorable Christopher A. Coons  Ranking Member  Subcommittee on Oversight, Agency Action,  Federal Rights and Federal Courts\n\u00a0\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.cruz.senate.gov?p=press_release&id=2928"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.0956977494060993, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}