Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas issued his verdict Friday at the 11th Circuit Judicial Conference in Point Clear, Alabama: The nation's capital is "a hideous place" oriented both toward character assassination and away from the truth.
During his hour-long appearance at the conference Friday, U.S. District Judge Kathryn Kimball Mizelle asked Justice Thomas about working in a mean-spirited world, reported the Associated Press.
Justice Thomas explained to Mizelle as well as to the other judges, attorneys, and others with business in the federal appeals court who had gathered for the conference, "We're in a world and we — certainly my wife and I the last two or three years, it's been — just the nastiness and the lies, it's just incredible."
"But you have some choices," continued Thomas. "You don't get to prevent people from doing horrible things or saying horrible things. But one you have to understand and accept the fact that they can't change you unless you permit that."