Democrats spent three years trying to destroy Clarence Thomas.
Now the Justice they failed to bring down just went on the record – and named the man who stood when everyone else ran.
What Thomas said Monday is the last thing Chuck Schumer wanted America to hear.
The Attack That Didn't Work
When ProPublica dropped its bombshell in 2023, Democrats smelled blood.
They had the story they'd been waiting for – luxury trips, a private jet, a friendship with Texas billionaire Harlan Crow that Thomas hadn't fully disclosed.
Dick Durbin hauled the Supreme Court before his Judiciary Committee.
Chuck Schumer demanded Thomas resign.
CNN ran the story for weeks.
There was just one problem.
Ted Cruz didn't wither.
https://twitter.com/SteveGuest/status/2091892877861294230?s=20
Cruz stood up on Fox News in April 2023 and said exactly what needed to be said: "They're not looking at any other judges. This is a political smear job directed at Clarence Thomas, because he is an extraordinary constitutionalist."
He was right then.
And Clarence Thomas just told him so.
What Thomas Said Monday
Thomas sat down for his first-ever podcast appearance on Verdict with Ted Cruz – a remarkable moment in itself.
The second-longest-serving justice in Supreme Court history, and this was his first podcast.
He opened with something that stopped the room.
"You're one of the people who actually stands up," Thomas told Cruz, "particularly at times when others seem to wither, and I appreciate it."
He wasn't done.
"And more personally, when we, my wife and I, were under attack for obvious reasons, you and Mike Lee and some of the other friends would stand up. So I really appreciate that," he said.
Think about what Thomas just said.
He didn't say "colleagues."
He didn't say "allies."
He said friends – the ones who stood when everyone else ran.
The Double Standard Democrats Never Answered For
Here's what Cruz understood in 2023 that Democrats counted on most Americans forgetting.
Sonia Sotomayor left six free or reimbursed trips off her 2016 financial disclosure.
https://twitter.com/CatchUpFeed/status/2092230419886346317?s=20
Ketanji Brown Jackson's husband had income that was "inadvertently omitted" from her nominee disclosures.
Stephen Breyer took trips funded by a Democrat donor.
Elena Kagan refused to recuse herself from Obamacare despite previously advising on it as Solicitor General.
Dick Durbin said nothing.
Chuck Schumer said nothing.
ProPublica investigated nothing.
The entire "ethics reform" crusade existed for one purpose: to delegitimize Clarence Thomas before he could write another originalist opinion that dismantled 50 years of leftist precedent.
Cruz called it a double standard in the Senate chamber.
Thomas called it an "attack" from the bench.
Both were right.
Why This Moment Matters
Today – the same day Thomas went on record thanking Cruz – Cruz's biography of the justice hits shelves.
Going Further: The Incomparable Clarence Thomas is built on nine hours of exclusive personal interviews with Thomas himself.
Cruz drew on his clerkship for Chief Justice Rehnquist, his years arguing before the Court, and three decades of friendship with Thomas to write what may be the definitive account of the most consequential justice of our era.
The book traces Thomas from crushing poverty in segregated Georgia – raised by a grandfather who told him to "get an education or dig ditches" – to writing the opinions that have reshaped American constitutional law.
This is a man who survived Anita Hill, ProPublica, and three years of Senate Democrats demanding his resignation.
He's still there.
And the man who defended him just published the book that explains why Thomas – not the critics, not the donors, not the legacy media – got the last word.
Democrats tried to make Clarence Thomas's story about Harlan Crow.
Ted Cruz made it about the Constitution.
Today, Thomas told you himself which version he believes.
Sources:
- Ted Cruz, Verdict with Ted Cruz, August 25, 2026.
- "Ted Cruz Decries Political Smear Job Against Clarence Thomas," The Hill, April 30, 2023.
- "Democrats Attack Conservative Supreme Court Justices But Have Long Ignored Liberal Justices' Ethical Issues," Fox News, May 4, 2023.
- Sen. Ted Cruz, "Sen. Cruz Calls Out Utter Hypocrisy of the Left During SCOTUS Judicial Ethics Hearing," Cruz.senate.gov, May 2023.
- Going Further: The Incomparable Clarence Thomas, Sentinel/Penguin Random House, August 25, 2026.