Judge Thomas’ Confirmation

I have never been more ashamed of our political process than I was during the Judge Clarence Thomas confirmation hearings. Republican Sens. Orrin Hatch, Arlen Specter and Alan Simpson and, sadly, the candidate himself, used the same tactics that unscrupulous defense lawyers have used against rape victims for decades.

Prof. Anita Hill opened the eyes of the nation to a very real problem, sexual harassment on the job. However, Thomas and his supporters, in a performance carefully orchestrated by the White House, made it unlikely that any woman will ever again avail herself of the protection of the law against sexual harassment.

If they can vilify a woman with the impeccable credentials and reputation of Prof. Hill, what will happen to ordinary people?

If Thomas, in his years as chairman of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, really intended to establish remedies for sexual harassment in the work place, he destroyed all of his efforts in attempting to fulfill his burning ambition to sit on the Supreme Court by participating in a scurrilous attack on the reputation of an innocent woman merely because she had the audacity to step forward with the truth.

DARRYL O. DICKEY, Reseda