October 11, 2011 | 10:05 AM | By

“Thomas Confirmation Hearings Had Ripple Effect”

Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas faced accusations of sexual harassment from Anita Hill during confirmation hearings 20 years ago today. Thomas, an African-American conservative, told the all-white, all-male senate panel they were engaging in a “high-tech lynching” when they publicly questioned him about the allegations. NPR looks back on the the political ramifications of the dramatic hearings and Thomas’ impact on the court.


Perhaps no subject has engaged Thomas more on a personal level than race. He votes often against civil rights claims, and his own feelings of being underestimated because of his race come out most clearly in affirmative action cases.

Although Thomas is widely believed to have been the beneficiary of affirmative action programs when he went to the College of the Holy Cross and then to Yale Law School, he sees such programs as a scar, not a benefit. And when the Supreme Court reaffirmed the use of race as one factor that can be used in university admissions, Thomas railed that these programs were “nothing more than a facade, a cruel farce of continued racial discrimination that stamp minorities with a badge of inferiority.”

— www.npr.org