This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon: August 19, 2008- Sen. Barack Obama and Sen. John McCain were recently asked which members of the Supreme Court they wouldn't have named. Obama listed Justice Thomas and Antonin Scalia and Chief Justice John Roberts. McCain listed the four most liberal members of the court - Justices David H. Souter, John Paul Stevens, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen Breyer.
Conservatives hit back at Obama's answer a lot harder than liberals hit McCain, if Google News is a reliable aggregator of commentary. This may be a sign that conservatives care more about the direction of the court than liberals.
Obama said that Thomas was not a "strong enough jurist or legal thinker at the time for that elevation." He added that he also would not have nominated him because he disagreed with him on most issues.
A Wall Street Journal editorial argued that Thomas was more qualified for high office when he was elevated to the court than Obama is to be president. It noted that Thomas had been an assistant Missouri Attorney General, top lawyer in the Education Department, head of the EEOC and a federal appellate judge for a year before his elevation. By contrast Obama is only four years out of the Illinois Senate, the editorial pointed out.
Other conservative critics argued that Obama was guilty of a racial stereotyping in suggesting Thomas was not a high-level jurist.
The general consensus among court experts I have talked to is that Justice Thomas is in the upper half of the Supreme Court, when it comes to intellectual firepower - although he certainly doesn't demonstrate it from the bench where he remains silent.
The only current justices not singled out by the candidates were Justices Anthony M. Kennedy and Samuel Alito.