Clarence Thomas has spent decades helping roll back civil rights gains. In 1991, a Black woman named Anita Hill told the Senate under oath exactly who he was, and they confirmed him days later anyway.
The senator running that hearing was Joe Biden, then in his fourth term and chairing the Judiciary Committee. As chair, he controlled who testified and how hard they were questioned, and his decisions during the hearings have been widely criticized for disadvantaging Hill.
Biden told Hill she would testify first. After private negotiations with Republicans, Thomas went first instead and delivered his denial so the public heard him before Hill said a word. Biden then declined to call the witnesses who could have backed up her account. Angela Wright, another former Thomas employee, was prepared to describe similar conduct. Two other women, the lawyer Sukari Hardnett and Wright’s colleague Rose Jourdain, were also ready to support Hill. Biden ended the hearings before any of them spoke in public. By leaving them out, Hill later said, Biden turned a case with corroboration into a “he said, she said,” which it never had to be.
VERY TRUE
