BENCHMARK REACHED

Clarence Thomas Becomes One of the Longest-Serving Supreme Court Justices

Thomas surpassed Justice Hugo Black’s tenure, marking 34 years on the nation’s highest court.

Clarence Thomas has officially become the fifth longest-serving Supreme Court justice. On Friday, the conservative justice surpassed Justice Hugo Black’s tenure, marking 34 years and 29 days on the nation’s highest court. Thomas, 77, was nominated to the court by President George H.W. Bush. He began his justiceship on Oct. 15, 1991, after a 52-48 vote by the U.S. Senate. In roughly five months, Thomas is expected to overtake Chief Justice John Marshall as well as Justices John Paul Stevens and Stephen Johnson Field, making him the Court’s second-longest-serving justice behind William O. Douglas’s nearly 37-year tenure. In the judge’s autobiography, My Grandfather’s Son: A Memoir, he shares his early life in Pin Point, Georgia, where he was raised by his grandparents. Though he came from humble beginnings, he graduated from Yale Law School after attending the College of the Holy Cross.