the law

Clarence Thomas Is Only a Part-Time Prince Fan

Photo-Illustration: Vulture; Photos by Eric Lee/Bloomberg via Getty Images and Jeffrey Mayer/Getty Images

The Supreme Court is back in session for the season, chomping at the bit to take away more rights. And also to discuss Prince? On October 12, the Court heard arguments in Andy Warhol Foundation v. Goldsmith, a case dealing with fair use of a photograph of Prince as inspiration for Warhol’s ubiquitous prints of the rock star. During the hearing, the notoriously un-fun, dangerously conservative Justice Clarence Thomas brought up a question. “Let’s say that I’m both a Prince fan,” he posited, “which I was in the ’80s, and, um —” His fellow justice Elena Kagan cut in: “No longer?” “Only on Thursday nights,” he replied, after some laughter. Thomas went on to raise a question about whether the Warhol Foundation would allow a Syracuse fan to make a poster of Warhol’s Orange Prince print, but in the process, he only raised more questions about his own Prince fandom. Like, what ’90s album made Thomas fall off his Prince fandom? How does the justice feel about the pro-sex-work content of “Darling Nikki”? And do we really want to know what he gets up to on Thursday nights? At least the exchange brought us one piece of good news: Kagan, long known for peppering her opinions with pop-culture references, may also be the Court’s biggest Prince fan.

Clarence Thomas Is Only a Part-Time Prince Fan