Description
Inscribed photograph of Associate Justice Clarence Thomas, from the private collection of Toni House, the chief spokeswoman of the Supreme Court.
Framed in gold, measures 13″ x 11″. Black paper backing, not examined outside of frame. Signed on the white matte background: “To Toni – Thank you so much for helping me get started here at the Court. Clarence Thomas.”
The chief spokeswoman of the Supreme Court, Toni House (1943-1998), was a leading advocate for women’s rights in Washington D.C. Prior to joining the Supreme Court, she advocated for the inclusion of women in traditionally all-male events in Washington D.C, such as the Gridiron Dinner. In 1982, Chief Justice Warren E. Burger announced that House would become the public information officer of the court, where she was “the Court’s public voice, although not, as she often stressed, its interpreter.” She would serve in this position for 16 years, before an untimely death due to lung cancer in 1998.
