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I Can't Support Joe Biden for President

Writer's picture: Donald V. WatkinsDonald V. Watkins

Updated: Jul 4, 2019

By Donald V. Watkins ©Copyrighted and Published on July 2, 2019


I cannot support Joe Biden’s candidacy for President of the United States. As Chairman of the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee in 1991, Biden had the power to kill Clarence Thomas’ nomination to the Supreme Court, but he did not do so. As a result, Clarence Thomas became one of the five worst Supreme Court Justice in American history.


Biden’s failure to kill Thomas’ nomination is a deal-breaker for me.


“I do not share the certainty of some who are voting against Judge Thomas that he will be as extreme as some of his statements could lead one to believe he might be,” said Biden in 1991. Well, Joe Biden, you were wrong. Very Wrong!


Because Clarence Thomas is so extreme in his disdain for African-Americans, women and gay Americans, the other conservatives on the Supreme Court often have to distance themselves from his hostility towards these Americans. For example, in May 2016, the Justices voted 7 to 1 to overturn the conviction of Timothy Tyrone Foster, a black death-row inmate who was convicted of murdering an elderly white woman. Foster’s conviction was reversed because the Georgia prosecutors in his case deliberately kicked African-Americans off the jury, in clear violation of prior Supreme Court decisions that potential jurors cannot be struck from jury service because of their race.


On June 21, 2019, the Supreme Court ruled that Curtis Flowers, a Mississippi prisoner who was tried six times for murder, deserved a seventh trial because of the prosecutor's well-documented discrimination against potential black jurors. District Attorney Doug Evans engaged in prohibited racial discrimination in each one of Flowers' six trials dating back two decades. Evans eliminated 41 of 42 potential black jurors for whom he used peremptory strikes that required no explanation when exercised. Clarence Thomas saw no problem with Evans’ flagrant discrimination against potential black jurors.


In February 2015, Thomas blasted his fellow U.S. Supreme Court Justices for refusing, on a 7-2 vote, to block a ruling that struck down Alabama’s ban on same-sex marriages. Later that day, same-sex couples in the state were granted marriage licenses for the first time ever.


In his concurring opinion in the 1995 case of United States v. Lopez, Clarence Thomas expressed his view that federal minimum wage laws, overtime rules, anti-discrimination protections for workers, and even the national ban on whites-only lunch counters are all unconstitutional. Thomas is the only current member of the Supreme Court who has explicitly and openly embraced the reasoning of Lochner Era decisions (from 1897 to 1937) that struck down nationwide child labor laws and made similar attacks on federal power.


Clarence Thomas Hurts Millions of Innocent Americans Because Hates Himself


During his nearly 28 years on the High Court, Clarence Thomas has vigorously and forcefully opposed equal rights for minorities, women, and gay Americans. Ironically, every break Thomas has received in life, including his post-secondary educational opportunities and his current job on the Supreme Court bench, has been the result of affirmative action based upon his race. Thomas has never distinguished himself in life based upon any intellectual acumen. What little praise he receives as a Supreme Court Justice usually comes from far right-wing conservatives, extremist groups, and corporate titans who admire his fierce loyalty to the preservation of their way of life.


Over the decades, I have come to believe that Clarence Thomas hates the fact that he was born a black man. Thomas likely feels that he is a white man trapped in a black man’s body much like a transgender male or female feels trapped in their bodies. Fortunately for transgender males and females, they can free themselves from this bodily prison by having sex reassignment surgery (male-to-female and female-to-male).


Unfortunately for Clarence Thomas, no race reassignment surgery is available to him. He is hopelessly trapped in a black man’s body, forever. Serving a life sentence as a black man must be agonizing for Thomas. This genetic condition, I believe, is why Thomas constantly finds new and creative ways to undermine the Constitutional rights of blacks, women, gays, and other minority groups. This is his way of cursing God for his genetic condition. Even though his skin color is black, Thomas has found that by casting votes against these minority groups in a highly visible way he can endear himself to other extremists who oppose equal rights under the law.


Joe Biden Had the Power to Kill Thomas’ Nomination, but He Did Not Use It.


Joe Biden knew in 1991 that Clarence Thomas was nothing more than a “pack mule” for far right-wing extremists. Biden had the power to kill Thomas’ nomination, but he did not use it. As a result, Thomas has used his position on the Supreme Court to inflict unimaginable pain and suffering on millions of innocent Americans.


It is true that Biden voted against Clarence Thomas on the floor of the Senate. However, Biden’s “no” vote was cast only after he knew that Thomas had secured 52 “yes” votes for confirmation.


In my view, Joe Biden committed a profound error in judgment in allowing Clarence Thomas’ nomination to survive certain political death in his Senate Judiciary Committee. Thomas’ embarrassing presence and record on the High Court are a constant reminders of how Joe Biden failed Americans who believe in equal protection under the U.S. Constitution for African-Americans, women, gays, and other minority groups.


For these reasons, I cannot support Joe Biden for President of the United States.


PHOTO: Joe Biden (left) confers with Clarence Thomas (right) during Thomas' Senate confirmation hearings in 1991. At the time, Biden chaired the Senate Judiciary Committee and held the power to kill Thomas' nomination to the High Court.


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© 2025 by Donald V. Watkins

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