His insistence that the Constitution, not merely judicial precedent, is the highest authority has reshaped American jurisprudence, and his lasting impact on the trajectory of constitutional law is undeniable. Drawing on nine hours of exclusive, wide-ranging, and deeply personal one-on-one interviews with the Justice, Cruz reveals how Thomas’s most formative early experiences—like growing up in crushing poverty in segregated Georgia, his early encounters with extreme racism, and his brief stint in radical left-wing politics—forged a lifelong commitment to independence, self-reliance, and truth. In this powerful and timely book, Senator Ted Cruz draws on his own Supreme Court clerkship, on his many years as a Supreme Court advocate, and on his now decades-long friendship with Justice Thomas to paint a portrait of one of the most consequential—and misunderstood—Americans in our nation’s history.