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2021 Harv. J.L. & Pub. Pol'y Per Curiam [1] (2021)

handle is hein.journals/hpercrm2021 and id is 1 raw text is: Speaking Out on Justice Thomas The Honorable David R. Stras One of my fondest memories and greatest honors was having Justice Thomas swear me in as a judge. He did it not once, but twice, first when I joined the Minnesota Supreme Court over a decade ago and then again when I became a judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit. The first time, he handed me what has now become a prized possession: a copy of my oath with a handwritten note on it. David, he wrote, this is YOUR oath. Always do your best to live up to it with dignity, honor, honesty, + respect. His message was clear: be your own judge and stick by your firmly held principles, no matter what they are. Ask any former clerk, and he or she will tell you that Justice Thomas embodies those values better than anyone. I have always strived, as Justice Thomas instructed me that day, to be my own judge, but his guidance has become a part of who I am. One of the most important traits he imparted to me is courage. As judges, we are asked to make tough decisions, but it is our job to ignore the noise and make the right call, not just sometimes or usually, but all the time, no matter how unpopular it may be. Justice Thomas has never been afraid to take a stand. Regardless of where textualism and originalism may take him, his overriding goal is just to find the right answer, even if it means stepping back and reconsidering his own positions.' Although there are many areas in which his refreshingly honest brand of writing has shaped American law, the word limits in this symposium require me to choose only one. My choice is the First Amendment, because it is the area of law where his influence on me perhaps stands out the most. 1 See Almendarez-Torres v. United States, 523 U.S. 224 (1998); Mathis v. United States, 136 S. Ct. 2243, 2258-59 (2016) (Thomas, J., concurring) (I have urged that Almendarez-Torres be reconsidered.).

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