After 20 years, Thomas gets a bobblehead

By Kimberly Atkins The Daily Record Newswire Justice Clarence Thomas is approaching his 20-year anniversary as a Supreme Court justice. And if you were racking your brain to figure out how to commemorate the milestone, the folks at The Green Bag have a solution for you: The Clarence Thomas bobblehead. Thomas is the latest justice to be featured as a bobblehead by the quarterly legal publication. And the figure features much more than the justice's likeness and a wiggly noggin. As with other Green Bag justice bobbleheads, there is plenty of symbolism in the figure. For example, Thomas is standing on pizza boxes, a reference to his opinion in the 2005 case National Cable & Telecommunications Association v. Brand X Internet Services, in which Thomas noted: "One can pick up a pizza rather than having it delivered, and one can own a dog without buying a leash. By contrast, the Commission reasonably concluded, a consumer cannot purchase Internet service without also purchasing a connection to the Internet and the transmission always occurs in connection with information processing." Thomas' foot also sits atop a figure of a tractor trailer. That is a reference to one of Thomas' many objections to the concept of implied preemption. In the case Freightliner Corp. V. Myrick, Thomas wrote that "a finding of liability against petitioners would undermine no federal objectives or purposes with respect to such devices, since none exist." And like Thomas on the bench during oral arguments, the bobblehead is silent. If you are dying to get your hands on one, you may have some trouble - the figurines are not sold. They are given away by the publication to certain recipients, such as some subscribers and even the justices themselves. So we have no doubt the justice will have it on his desk before the next term begins. Published: Thu, Jul 14, 2011