I have come here today not in anger nor to anger, but my mere presence here today has been sufficient obviously to anger some. Nor have I come to defend my views but rather to assert my right to think for myself, to refuse to have my ideas assigned to me as though I was an intellectual slave because I’m black. I come to state that I’m a man who can think for myself and do as I please. I have come to assert that I am a judge and I will not be consigned the unquestioned opinion of others. – Clarence Thomas, speech before the National Bar Association