'National Treasure!' Justice Clarence Thomas chokes up sharing personal memory

Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas became emotional as he shared a memory in a discussion with Hoover Institution fellow Peter Robinson.

“The decision I made was to live the rest of my life as a memorial to theirs,” Thomas said of his grandparents who raised him and died suddenly in 1983.

“And the point I’m going to make is that is the way I feel about Professor [Thomas] Sowell,” Thomas continued after a brief pause to gather his composure.

The purpose of the meeting was to discuss the legacy of conservative author, economist, and social theorist Thomas Sowell. But the high court justice has a storied and inspiring past of his own, which also became a topic of discussion.

Thomas recalled what his grandfather would say to him when he complained as a child.

“My grandfather, I remember him often saying … his favorite saying was, ‘Old man can’t is dead. I helped bury him.'”

“My grandfather, no education, raised by a freed slave, and he never complained,” Thomas continued. “He did it. He was a — he was just a great man. Now what do you do? How do you complain when he had nothing, no education? What do you say to it? But he sets this example of how you live your life.”

Thomas credited Sowell for echoing the principles his grandparents instilled in him.

“Well, I think it’s something that Professor Sowell has been trying to stress, that a lot of the groundwork to being able to do difficult things, to achieve, are attitudes. And he talks about other groups,” Thomas said.

“And that’s what attracted me initially to ‘Race and Economics,’ because if you go back and you look at ‘Race and Economics,’ he talks about attitude of self-reliance, of self-discipline, etc., how important those were.

“Where did I first hear that? I heard it from my grandfather, the single greatest man I’ve ever known, my grandmother, a saintly woman, my nuns. Same thing. It’s the exact same thing,” Thomas said.

Fox News shared a clip of the emotional moment on X where Thomas received plenty of praise for rising above his circumstances without complaint:

Justice Clarence Thomas choked up on stage as he revealed the vow he made when both his grandparents died suddenly in 1983: to live the rest of his life as a memorial to theirs.

Thomas, abandoned by his father at age seven, was raised by his maternal grandparents in segregated… pic.twitter.com/1je1DCeSaR

— Fox News Politics (@foxnewspolitics) August 19, 2026

The life of Clarence Thomas is one of the greatest American success stories of all time. Everyone, all colors and creeds should celebrate him and be greatful that we have him. I am.

— DrT1250 (@DrT1250) August 19, 2026

It’s funny how Clarence Thomas has like the perfect inspirational Hollywood black guy who succeeded against all odds story but he’s got the wrong politics so they won’t touch it

— HowlingMutant (@Howlingmutant0) August 20, 2026

This man has the most incredible, inspiring back story. If you’re ever in Savannah, take the time to visit the Pin Point Heritage Museum on the Moon River, to see where he was born and raised.

Clarence Thomas is the epitome of the American Dream.

— Lisa Clark O’Neill (@LisaClarkONeill) August 20, 2026