mousethief, Thomas received his legal education from Yale Law School. He served as Assistant Attorney General in Missouri, worked as a practicing corporate attorney for Monsanto (the petrochemical giant), was a Reagan appointee to the Civil Rights and EEO offices, and was appointed to the bench by Bush I, to the Court of Appeals, DC, largely based upon him being African American, and most certainly NOT because of his brilliant legal mind.

The disgusting irony of his appointment, was that this pathetic, piss poor excuse for a legal scholar, was appointed to replace Thurgood Marshall. He was appointed for the same reason that Colin Powell and Condeleeza Rice have been promoted through the ranks by Republicans opposed to affirmative action: because of the color of their skin, and their ideological "house Negro" demeanors.

So don't delude yourself into thinking that appointments to the Supreme Court don't have ANY legal background. They most certainly do, even when, as in the instance of Clarence Thomas, that legal background is utterly undistinguished, and the appointment obviously based upon political ideological loyalty to the president who appoints them.