US Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.

Paul Mirengoff of Powerline highlights the modesty and character of US Supreme Court Justice Thomas:

..." leadership and quality public service, whether in a bureaucracy or on a court, is much less a matter of resume and ideology than a matter of "character." It's not that hard, he finds, to figure out the right direction or the correct legal answer. The challenge comes in having "the guts, fortitude, and intellectual honesty" to proceed uncompromisingly once one has figured this out. Asked how a president can identify people with these qualities, Thomas said the key is to identify people who have been in the heat of battle and haven't given in. He added that those in the Bush I administration who advocated his nomination for the Supreme Court knew he had taken controversial positions as head of the EEOC, come under serious fire for doing so, and stuck to his guns.

This strength of character is particularly important when it comes to the Supreme Court, Thomas suggested, given the system of incentives that's in place. Because the relevant audience is seen as the nation's elites, the incentive is to appeal to that audience, which is liberal. Since judges are human, Thomas argued, they tend to respond in accord with this set of incentives. That helps explain why judges "grow in office." In this regard, Thomas referred to an old article by Judge Laurence Silberman called "The Greenhouse Effect," in honor of Linda Greenhouse of the New York Times.

Justice Thomas Supreme Court leadership character