Donald Wilkes, a University of Georgia Law Professor is giving Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas the business. Wilkes is not too happy about the invitation for Justice Thomas to speak at the UGA graduation ceremony. So much so that he is boycotting the ceremony, and attending a protest rally to oppose him.

Inviting Thomas to be the graduation speaker bestows an honor that he does not deserve. Inviting Thomas (or anyone else) simply to speak at the law school is one thing, and I would never object to inviting any speaker of any point of view.

But inviting someone to be the graduation speaker is different; being invited to address the graduating class is an honor and implicitly gives the law school's approval to the invitee.

Even though he is on the Supreme Court, Thomas' deplorable, relentless anti-human rights voting record on the court makes him unworthy of being honored.

So basically, it comes down to politics. Wilkes doesn't like a few SCOTUS decisions, so he refers to Justice Thomas as having an "anti-human rights voting record". I wonder if Wilkes holds the same contempt for Saddam Hussein or Fidel Castro?

Of course, we have to simply accept Wilkes at face value, because he doesn't even bother to offer any examples to bolster his point. A quick search of Ontheissues shows that Thomas measures up as a true centrist. That may explain why he has so few allies. Still, there is no mention of any gassings, beheadings, convictions without a fair trial, or any other human rights violations that Thomas has committed. In fact, I cannot find one single shred of evidence where Thomas has voted to deny someone human rights. Therefore, I must conclude that either Wilkes knows something that the rest of the world doesn't, or that Wilkes is an idiot.

Here's some evidence to support the case that Wilkes is an idiot.

Student attendance at the graduation is in effect mandatory. Students must listen to Thomas' speech unless they want to miss their own graduation. If Thomas were merely invited to speak at the law school, students would be free to attend or not attend. Objecting to Thomas' invitation therefore in no way impinges upon freedom of speech.

Just who is it that is playing to a captive audience? I tried searching for a UGA requirement that students MUST attend graduation to get their diploma, but I couldn't find one. I will assume then, that every UGA student that objects to Justice Thomas has the option of skipping his speech, and still graduating.

Given that Wilkes is on the faculty, and presuming that he teaches some students, I wonder if students have the freedom "to attend or not attend" his lectures. I mean, if they are enrolled in his class, aren't they forced to sit through his bone-headed lectures in order to pass the class? I would think that is much more of a violation of student's rights than having Clarence Thomas speak for a single hour on a single day of their college careers.