Clarence Thomas controversy
Main article: Clarence Thomas Supreme Court nomination
In 1981, Hill became an attorney-adviser to Clarence Thomas at the U.S. Department of Education (ED). When Thomas became Chairman of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), Hill went to the EEOC with Thomas and his then-secretary, Diane Holt, to serve as his special assistant. Hill alleges that it was during these two periods (i.e., during her employment at ED and EEOC) that Thomas made sexually provocative statements.
Although Hill was a career employee (Schedule A) and therefore had the option of remaining at the Department of Education, she testified that she followed Thomas because, "[t]he work, itself, was interesting, and at that time, it appeared that the sexual overtures . . . had ended."[2] Also, she testified that she wanted to work in the civil-rights field, and that she believed that "at that time the Department of Education, itself, was a dubious venture."[2]
On October 11, 1991, Hill was called to testify during the Senate confirmation hearing of then-Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas. Hill's allegations against Thomas were made public when information from an FBI interview about the allegations was leaked to the media days before the final Senate vote on his appointment. Thomas was nominated by then-President George H. W. Bush to replace the retiring Justice Thurgood Marshall.
Hill's testimony included a wide variety of language she allegedly was subjected to by Thomas that she found inappropriate:
He spoke about acts that he had seen in pornographic films involving such matters as women having sex with animals and films showing group sex or rape scenes....On several occasions, Thomas told me graphically of his own sexual prowess....Thomas was drinking a Coke in his office, he got up from the table at which we were working, went over to his desk to get the Coke, looked at the can and asked, "Who has put pubic hair on my Coke?"[3]
Four individuals (Ellen Wells, John W. Carr, Judge Susan Hoerchner, and Joel Paul) testified that Hill had been upset at the time she worked for Thomas about what she had said was sexual harassment by him. Angela Wright, another of Thomas' subordinates, stated that she had not considered the behavior to be sexual harassment, but that others might. She was interviewed by Senate Judiciary Committee staff, but did not testify at the hearings. Wright had been fired by Thomas from the EEOC. [4]
Thomas made a blanket denial of the accusations, claiming this was a "high-tech lynching".[5] After extensive debate, the U.S. Senate confirmed Thomas by a vote of 52–48.[6]
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