Clarence Thomas (born June 23, 1948) is an American jurist who has served as an associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court since 1991, making him the second African American to hold the position and the second-longest-serving justice in history. Nominated by President George H. W. Bush to replace Thurgood Marshall, Thomas overcame a childhood of poverty in a Gullah community in Pin Point, Georgia, to graduate with honors from the College of the Holy Cross and earn his law degree from Yale Law School. His confirmation hearings were bitterly contested after Anita Hill accused him of sexual harassment, yet the Senate confirmed him by the razor-thin margin of 52–48. As the Court's foremost originalist, he authored landmark majority opinions in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen (affirming the right to bear arms outside the home) and Good News Club v. Milford Central School (protecting religious speech), while his dissent in Gonzales v. Raich argued against federal criminalization of medical cannabis. Widely regarded as the most conservative justice, he was famously silent during oral arguments until 2020, when he began actively questioning counsel.