By Mark Sherman
Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas stopped in at Harvard Law School recently, and the school posted a 70-minute video of the justice’s conversation with law school dean Martha Minow and hundreds of students. In it, Thomas reveals that he was still repaying student loans after he joined the Supreme Court in 1991.
“I made my final payments on my student loans my third term on the court,” he said.
He made one oblique reference to his contentious and riveting confirmation hearing, in which he faced claims by law professor Anita Hill that Thomas had sexually harassed her.
Discussing his nomination to the high court, Thomas said, “And then I had a really bad interview.”
He talked about the collegiality on the court and had kind words for three of the four justices who make up the court’s liberal-leaning wing. Of Justice Elena Kagan, a former Harvard dean and the court’s newest member, Thomas said he told her, “It’s going to be a joy disagreeing with you for years to come.”
He called Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg “delightful” and said his seatmate for the past 19 years, Justice Stephen Breyer, draws stick figures during arguments and makes Thomas laugh.
The famously silent justice — he has said nothing at arguments for seven years, except for a brief joke last month that was seemingly about Ivy League lawyers — said Breyer occasionally asks questions that Thomas has first whispered to him on the bench.
He didn’t say a word about Sotomayor.
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