Crystal Clanton, the white woman who went viral for sending racist text messages, including “I HATE BLACK PEOPLE,” has been hired as a law clerk by U.S. Supreme Court Clarence Thomas. The announcement was made last week by George Mason University’s Antonin Scalia Law School, which is Clanton’s alma mater.
Clanton previously worked as a law clerk by two federal judges: U.S. District Judge Corey Maze in Birmingham, Alabama and Chief U.S. Circuit Judge William Pryor of the Atlanta-based 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
“After Judge Maze recounted to me how well Crystal performed in her clerkship on the district court, I had high expectations for her on the Eleventh Circuit,” Pryor said in a statement according to the Antonin Scalia Law School. “And she exceeded those expectations. Crystal is an outstanding law clerk.”
Clanton also worked for Thomas’ wife Ginni and even once lived with the couple. A misconduct investigation was executed by Democratic lawmakers to evaluate Clanton’s past racist behavior following her stint as national field director for the right-wing group Turning Point USA.
In 2017, a damning story about the group in the New Yorker revealed that Clanton had sent a text message to an associate exclaiming, “I HATE BLACK PEOPLE ... I hate blacks. End of story.” That same year, Clanton’s excuse for the alleged behavior is that she did not remember sending the messages.
In addition, she told the New Yorker they “do not reflect what I believe or who I am.” Clanton then resigned from Turning Point, but then was hired by Ginni. Justice Thomas has previously stated that Clanton lived with the pair for almost a year.
Justice Thomas later defended Clanton in a letter, saying “bigotry is antithetical to her nature and character.”