Conservative Judges Halt Investigation Into Former Law Clerk And Friend Of Clarence Thomas For Racist Texts Saying ‘I Hate Black People’

Crystal Clanton was exposed for sending a text to a friend in 2017 saying that she "[hates] black people."

The Federal Court investigation into racist text messages sent by a conservative activist and law clerk, Crystal Clanton, encountered a disruption when Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas went to bat for her.

Clanton, who’s most known for her conservative rhetoric while acting as a leader at Turning Point USA — Charlie Kirk’s conservative youth non-profit organization that mobilizes teens into right wing activists — has been brought into the media limelight after the New Yorker magazine unearthed a racist text message that she sent to a friend when she was 20 years old.

The text messages, which were later confirmed by The Washington Post, read, “I HATE BLACK PEOPLE. Like f*** them all.”

Other concerning messages spitting similar vitriol were listed.

Clanton quickly defended herself against the accusations. She told the New Yorker, “I have no recollection of these messages and they do not reflect what I believe or who I am and the same was true when I was a teenager.”

Following the rise in media attention surrounding the released text messages, a 2022 panel of federal judges ordered an investigation into Clanton’s past.

The order for the investigation was met with push back from those who she made connections with in the conservative legal world. She lived with Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and his wife, Virginia “Ginni,” for a time. Additionally, after she finished law school she obtained clerkships with two different federal judges: Judge Corey Maze and Judge William Pryor.

According to Reuters, Pryor and Maze both argued that the federal panel that ordered the investigation had no legal standing to do so and requested it be dropped immediately.

Most notably, Supreme Court Judge Clarence Thomas — who’s been sitting on many of the most controversial decisions in the past decade, personally wrote a letter to the 2nd Circuit on Clanton’s behalf. He claimed that Clanton was caught in an act of “defamation” and that it was allegedly completely out of character for Clanton to say something like that.

“I know Crystal Clanton and I know bigotry,” he wrote. “Bigotry is antithetical to her nature.”

The overwhelming support from her colleagues has resulted in the initial misconduct investigation being dropped.