Clarence Thomas

What's the deal with Clarence Thomas? Chatterers have been chattering about how he might be the next Supreme Court Justice, and how terrible a thing that would be for the left. Not knowing much about him, I did some shallow research today to find out why he's so reviled, and I have to say I came up kind of blank. I think I disagree with him quite a bit, but he seems principled and fair - for instance, I think his stance on affirmative action ignores certain things about human nature, but it's a stance I can sympathize with all the same, because necessary or not it's still pretty inherently sad. Further, I compared his dissenting opinion on Lawrence vs. Texas (a recent SCOTUS case in which I was personally invested) to Scalia's, and I have to say, there's no contest - Scalia's opinion was dripping with pages upon pages of contempt for gays, but Thomas' response was short and merely said that he thought the Texas law in question was lame, but that it was not the place of the Supreme Court to overturn it. Again - not an opinion I agree with, but nothing I can see to revile. Is there dirt I'm missing, or is this it?