Clarence Thomas, associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, spoke at the Hogg Memorial Auditorium on Wednesday to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence’s signing.
In the hour-long speech, Thomas touched on his first encounters with the Declaration of Independence while growing up in a segregated south. He said natural rights preceded the power of authority, segregation and discrimination, and that one’s rights and dignity came from God, rather than government.
“The principles of the Declaration of Independence, as I encountered them, are a way of life,” Thomas said. “They’re not an abstract theory that you only learn in college or law school, but the basic premises of our Constitution and government that you can learn from the people all around you.”
Thomas also said everyone should be ready to defend the country’s founding principles. It was a lack of courage from the Supreme Court that allowed racial segregation to be legalized in the 1896 Supreme Court decision Plessy v. Ferguson, he said.
“For 60 disgraceful years, they made American children like me grow up in a racial caste system because it was easier to do nothing than to do the right thing,” Thomas said.
University President Jim Davis introduced Thomas and said that although Thomas did not attend UT, he sees “the spirit of a Longhorn” in him.
“Justice Thomas is, in the fullest sense, a great citizen of this republic,” Davis said. “His civic life has many important things to teach us and make them remind us of ourselves.”
Thomas is the longest-serving sitting justice and was appointed to the Supreme Court by former president George H. W. Bush in 1991. Thomas said he was honored to be invited by Justin Dyer, dean of the School of Civic Leadership, and he praised the school for its teaching of “civics and Western civilization,” values of the Declaration that must be bolstered.
“It is my sincere hope that your work to revitalize the teaching and research of Western civilization and the American constitutional tradition will lead the way in the reform of our nation’s colleges and universities,” Thomas said. “I hope that your example will help to rejuvenate our fellow citizens’ commitment to the principles of the Declaration of Independence.”
The School of Civic Leadership welcomed its first class of students in August 2025. The school emphasizes teaching about “Western civilization and the American constitutional tradition,” according to its website, and was funded by conservative lawmakers, including Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, according to The Texas Tribune.
Dallas billionaire Harlan Crow attended the event. In 2023, a ProPublica investigation found that Thomas accepted luxury trips from Crow, which drew scrutiny from legal experts over the legality of the gifts.
After his lecture, William Inboden, executive vice president and provost, asked Thomas questions sent by students across different disciplines. Thomas was asked about digital privacy, his judicial philosophy and more. Thomas urged students to participate in the government.
“If we don’t stand up and take ownership of our country and take responsibility for it, we are slowly letting others control how we think and what we think,” Thomas said.
