Crystal Clanton, who was appointed as the clerk to Supreme Justice Clarence Thomas during the 2024-2025 court term, has stated that she “hates Black people,” according to an article published in The New Yorker magazine and The New York Times.

According to The New Yorker, Clanton was accused of sending a text message saying, “I HATE BLACK PEOPLE. Like, fuck them all . . . I hate blacks. End of story. ” 

She made nasty comments while she was the national field director for Turning Point USA in 2017. Candace Owens, who is a Black conservative, is listed on the website.

Clanton does not remember making that remark, and Associated Justice Thomas said she is not a racist.

Each justice has two clerks, except the chief justice, who has three. Clerks are primarily responsible for reviewing the trial record, researching applicable law, and drafting legal memoranda and court opinions. Clerks also attend oral arguments before the court.

Following her departure from Turning Point USA, a conservative organization, Clanton worked for Ginni Thomas, the Justice’s wife, and had lived in Thomas’s home for a year. 

Ginni Thomas was a Turning Point USA advisory council member at the time of Clanton’s departure.

Clanton is a 2022 Antonin Scalia Law School, the George Mason University based in Arlington, Virginia. 

She previously clerked for Corey Maze, District Court Judge for the Northern District of Alabama. As of February 2024, she clerked for William H. Pryor Jr., Chief Judge of the Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit.

Maze and Pryor have both been accused of judicial misconduct for hiring Clanton because she had been accused of racism, according to The New Yorker.

The misconduct claim was not pursued after a ruling by the judicial council of the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which stated that the judges had performed adequate due diligence, which included a reference letter from Justice Thomas. 

He joined other justices to strike down Affirmative Action on June 29, 2023.