The Road to the Confirmation of Clarence Thomas

Key dates of Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas’ effort to win confirmation by the Senate.

June 27: Thurgood Marshall, the only black to ever serve on the Supreme Court, announces his retirement.

July 1: President Bush, in Kennebunkport, Me., nominates Clarence Thomas, 43, a federal appeals court judge, to replace Marshall. Thomas, a black conservative, is soon opposed by many civil rights and women’s groups.

Sept. 3: Anita Faye Hill, a University of Oklahoma law professor and former assistant to Thomas at the Education Department and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, is contacted by an aide to Sen. Howard M. Metzenbaum (D-Ohio), who opposes Thomas, to ask if she has any information about the nominee.

Sept. 10-20: The Senate Judiciary Committee holds eight days of public hearings on Thomas. He testifies for five days, followed by three days of outside witnesses.

Sept. 12: Hill first contacts committee staff to discuss making allegations of sexual misconduct against Thomas. Discussions continue Sept. 19-21.

Sept. 23: Hill faxes statement with allegations to the committee.

Sept. 24: Hill is interviewed by the FBI.

Sept. 25: Thomas is informed about the charges and interviewed by the FBI. He denies all the allegations.

Sept. 26-27: Committee members are briefed about the allegations. Chairman Joseph R. Biden Jr. (D-Del.) and other members dismiss them and decide not to make them public.

Sept. 27: The committee splits 7 to 7 on whether to confirm Thomas, with Biden and six other Democrats voting against him and six Republicans and one Democrat voting for him. No mention is made of Hill’s charges at the public meeting. Opponents say Thomas is too conservative and is not well qualified to serve on the high court.

Oct. 1: Senate Majority Leader George J. Mitchell (D-Me.), who has been told Hill’s allegations by Biden, gets unanimous agreement to begin debate on the Thomas nomination on Oct. 3 and to vote on the nomination at 6 p.m. Oct. 8.

Oct. 3-4: Senate debate on the Thomas nomination begins with both supporters and opponents agreeing he will be confirmed.

Oct. 6: Newsday newspaper reports Hill’s allegations, and National Public Radio carries an interview with her about them.

Oct. 7: Hill gives a televised news conference in Oklahoma about her charges. More senators and women’s groups call for a delay in the vote, but Mitchell says it will be held, and Biden defends his handling of the allegations. The Supreme Court opens its term with one vacancy.

Oct. 8: Pressure mounts throughout the day for a delay as several Democrats say they will withhold their votes unless the charges are investigated. Thomas releases an affidavit denying all the charges. At 6 p.m., the vote is put on hold and at 8:15 p.m., Mitchell gets agreement to postpone the vote for one week in order to give the Judiciary Committee time to investigate Hill’s charges.

Oct. 10: Angela Wright, who also worked at the EEOC, says Thomas asked her out on dates and made annoying comments to her. Wright, metropolitan editor at the Charlotte (N.C.) Observer, offers to testify as committee members argue about hearing procedures.

Oct. 11: The hearings open, carried live on the major television networks. Thomas appears first, denies the charges and says his reputation has been ruined by unfair proceedings. Hill then gives graphic testimony about sexual comments she says Thomas made to her about pornographic films and his own sexual prowess. Thomas returns in the evening and calls the hearings, “a high-tech lynching for uppity blacks.”

Oct. 12: Thomas testifies for over six hours and again denies all the charges, adding that his life has been “hell” since Sept. 25. Asked if he would withdraw his nomination before the vote, he says: “I would rather die than withdraw.”

Oct. 13: The committee hears several witnesses for Thomas and Hill. Four people who know Hill say she told them several years ago about Thomas’ alleged actions as her lawyer releases a lie detector test she took and passed.

Oct. 14: The committee finishes its hearing at 2 a.m. without reaching a conclusion about whether Hill’s charges are true. Biden says Thomas should get the benefit of the doubt. Hill, upon returning to Oklahoma, dismisses accusations by Thomas’ supporters that she was fantasizing the alleged incidents and urges others to speak out against sexual harassment despite the difficulties.

Oct. 15: The full Senate votes 52 to 48 to confirm Thomas.