It appears that the release of Peter Robinson’s most recent interview with Thomas Sowell — posted here yesterday — was timed to coincide with Monday’s celebration of The Sowell Legacy: Ideas, Impact, and Intellectual Freedom. The Hoover Institution event included a lineup of speakers expounding Sowell’s “diverse” contributions to the wide range of subjects covered in his books. Among them: Glenn Loury, Niall Ferguson, Victor Davis Hanson, Coleman Hughes, Steven Pinker, Roland Fryer, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Charles Murray, and Kemi Badenoch.
Wow. If I had known, I think I might have rearranged my schedule to attend. Videos of the event do not appear to have materialized online yet. They must be coming soon. Looking for them, however, I found a winning submission in the Thomas Sowell 2025 Creator Competition: “Stage One,” by Sebastian Gutierrez (video below). It is included among the voluminous materials Hoover has compiled documenting The Sowell Legacy. You will find it to be a treasure trove.
I tracked down information on Monday’s Hoover event after coming across Eli Steele’s X post below. Justice Thomas was not among the listed speakers, but he attended. Eli Steele is the son of the great Shelby Steele.
Eli Steele’s post elicited the response below from Mark Paoletta. I can’t find a link to Shelby Steele’s review of Justice Thomas’s memoir, but Wendy Long’s CRB review “Bearing witness” quotes it.
Here’s the @NRO cover of your Dad’s wonderful article on Justice Clarence Thomas. So glad you got to say hello to the Justice. pic.twitter.com/GMreTM5jGt
— Mark Paoletta (@MarkPaoletta) October 22, 2025
