First Principles: The Jurisprudence of Clarence Thomas by Scott Douglas Gerber

A percentage of the proceeds from your purchase of this book from Amazon.com will benefit the
Ashbrook Center.

Readers who have had enough of the Thomas-Hill controversy or of the legal realist thesis Gerber introduces by it might be tempted to quit this book before the close of the first chapter. It is a temptation that should be strongly resisted, however. Although Gerber is wrong in many respects, from his overall legal realist theme to his overly simplistic classification of Justice Thomas's opinions as either classical liberal originalism or Borkean conservative originalism, Gerber's is by far the most serious treatment of Justice Thomas's jurisprudence yet written. Merely taking issue with Justice Thomas's jurisprudence on substantive terms significantly elevates the level of discourse. Thus, Gerber's book accomplishes its stated goal of getting beyond Anita Hill, and it also gets beyond the ad hominem attacks that have been commonplace in most of the prior commentary about Justice Thomas's work on the Court, even if Gerber fails to see the full depth and coherence of Justice Thomas's thought. The book is therefore a must read for serious constitutional scholars, but it is a read that must be undertaken with a cautionary eye.