Rob Lowe reveals surprising friendship with Supreme Court justice Clarence Thomas

Lowe says Thomas gave him advice on law school and clerking for his son Matthew

Rob Lowe says he has struck up a surprising friendship with Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.

The actor made the revelation on Conan O’Brien’s podcast Team Coco earlier this month.

During the conversation, O’Brien asked Lowe to name someone people would be surprised to learn he’s friends with.

“Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas,” Lowe said, joking that this response had made O’Brien’s eye vein pop in shock.

“I do know him,” Lowe added, before explaining that he and Thomas met when Lowe got inducted into the Horatio Alger Association, a nonprofit based in Alexandria, Virginia, which celebrates the achievements of people who have faced adversity, and provides need-based scholarships to students in the US.

Lowe was honoured in 2018 by the organisation.

“The reason I bring it up is [Thomas is] one of those people who occupies such a perception in people’s minds and then you meet him and he’s like, ‘If you ever need anything, call my number. This is my cellphone,’” Lowe added of the justice.

According to Lowe, Thomas once spent time providing advice about law school and clerking for one of Lowe’s two sons.

“My son Matthew was going to law school, so I had some ideas about clerking and things like that, so I call this cellphone and he answers it,” the actor said, adding that Thomas spent “45 minutes giving me advice on what my son should do”.

Thomas was one of three justices who, along with Brett Kavanaugh and Samuel Alito, dissented in a recent landmark case which saw the Supreme Court rule that LGBT+ people cannot be fired because of their gender identity or sexual orientation.