Thursday, May 08, 2003

Here's a lengthy article describing the controversy over Justice Thomas's upcoming graduation speech at the University of Georgia law school:
A petition objecting to U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas as the University of Georgia Law School commencement speaker this month claims Thomas is "unworthy" because of his opinion in the court's December 2000 decision that ended the recount of Florida's votes in the last presidential election.

UGA law professor Donald Wilkes said 11 faculty members and 50 students have signed the petition objecting to Thomas and the "stealthy" selection method for choosing a commencement speaker.

"Justice Thomas's participation in the scandalous Bush v. Gore decision is, without more, sufficient to render him unworthy of being invited to give the graduation speech," Wilkes said.

But it appears the petition is falling on deaf ears among decision makers at the institution. UGA Law School Dean David Shipley said Thomas would speak as scheduled.

"Justice Thomas will be our graduation speaker on May 17," Shipley told CNSNews.com. "I think we'll have a wonderful ceremony, and the vast majority of the people on the faculty and the student body are excited that he's going to be our speaker."
* * *
Wilkes described the number of people who've signed the anti-Thomas petition as "roughly one-third of the law school faculty and includes the only tenured black professor at the law school.

"The decision to invite Justice Thomas is appalling, unwise and perverse - the embodiment of bad judgment," Wilkes told CNSNews.com.
I find it amazing that a third of any law school faculty, let alone at Georgia of all places, would sign a protest letter against allowing a Supreme Court Justice to deliver a graduation speech.

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