Black lawmakers blast plans for monument to Clarence Thomas at Georgia Capitol

clarence thomas
Associate Justice Clarence Thomas sits during a group photo at the Supreme Court in Washington, Friday, April 23, 2021. On Monday, Feb. 7, 2022, Georgia’s state Senate voted to erect a monument to U.S. Supreme Court Justice and Georgia native Thomas. (Erin Schaff/The New York Times via AP, Pool, File)

Georgia’s Republican-controlled Senate voted Monday to erect a monument to conservative U.S. Supreme Court Justice and Georgia native Clarence Thomas after heated debate and objections from several Black senators, one of whom called Thomas a “hypocrite and a traitor.”

The monument would be financed by private donations and would be erected somewhere at the state Capitol if the measure were to receive final passage. It was approved by a vote of 32 to 21 and now goes to the state House for consideration.

Statues honoring people at the state Capitol are generally put up after their deaths. Some opponents of the monument for Thomas said lawmakers should at least wait until he retires.