Early Hearings
Under questioning during confirmation hearings, Thomas repeatedly asserted that he had not formulated a position on Roe v. Wade.
At one point in the beginning of the proceedings, Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Joe Biden asked Thomas if he believed the Constitution granted any sort of property rights to individuals as described in Richard Epstein and Stephen Macedo's book Takings: Private Property and the Power of Eminent Domain, which had been published by Harvard University Press in 1985. Biden held the book up for Thomas to see and denounced its contents. In their book, Epstein and Macedo argue that the government should be regarded with the same respect as any other private entity in a property dispute. The Cato Institute later paraphrased Biden's general line of questioning in the hearing as, "Are you now or have you ever been a libertarian?"
Read more about this topic: Clarence Thomas Supreme Court Nomination
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