As the Supreme Court’s most renowned originalist and longest-serving current member, Justice Clarence Thomas has long been a lightning rod. Among conservatives, he is celebrated for his efforts to limit the power of the federal government, preserve individual liberties, and ensure equal treatment before the law. But on the left, Thomas is routinely denounced not just for his ideological convictions but on unusually personal grounds. Among black critics especially, Thomas is accused of racial disloyalty – a line of argument that seeks to diminish his historic achievements.

In his essay for the Winter issue of City Journal, contributing editor and Brown University economics professor Glenn Loury explores Thomas’s legacy alongside his own experience as a black conservative public intellectual.

Please join us for a virtual discussion featuring Glenn Loury, Paulson Fellow at the Manhattan Institute; Merton P. Stoltz Professor of Economics at Brown University.