16,1991
The Battalion
ednesday, October 16, 1991
Page 5
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Continued from Page 1
■fixed as the accusations were
Spelled out in explicit detail and
debated in nationally televised
|iearings.
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Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., said,
I “To give the benefit of the doubt to
I Judge Thomas is to say that Judge
i Thomas is more important than the
Supreme Court. ’’
one of the two women in the Sen
ate, said he will "live under a
cloud of suspicion he can never
fully escape."
Immediately after the vote.
President Bush called Thomas
with congratulations. Thomas had
watched the vote on television at
home in Alexandria, Va..
I "You're a wonderful inspira
tion and you had the overwhelm-
g support of the American peo-
rapped
mged
[a]$
President Bush congratulated Thomas
iand said he had an enormous support
of the American people.
pie," Bush said, according to press
secretary Marlin Fitzwater. "You
have a lifetime of service to your
country ahead. Well done." Bar
bara Bush also got on the phone to
congratulate Thomas.
I In Oklahoma, Hill said she was
satisfied she had been "able to go
out and tell what I knew true."
She also said she was pleased that
national awareness of sexual ha
rassment had been raised.
I "What I hope is that none of
this will deter others from coming
forward. This is an important is
sue and the dialogue will not stop
here," she said.
I Thomas' confirmation
strengthens an already solid con
servative majority on the court,
where liberals will be outnum
bered seven to two. The court is
likely to continue moving to the
right on issues such as abortion,
separation of church and state and
the rights of criminal suspects.
"It's a sad day for civil rights,
for the Supreme Court and for the
American people," said Ralph
Neas, of the Leadership Confer
ence on Civil Rights, a coalition of
180 organizations that opposed
Thomas.
With the outcome in doubt un
til the final hours. Vice President
Dan Quayle rushed back from a
political trip to Ohio to sit as the
presiding officer and cast a tie
breaking vote if necessary. It
wasn't needed.
The visitors' galleries were
packed but hushed as senators
rose, one by one, to cast their
votes.
It was an uneasy decision for
many senators, forcing them to
judge between the irreconcilably
different stories of accuser and ac
cused.
Thomas won confirmation
with support from 41 of the Sen
ate's 43 Republicans and 11
Democrats: Sens. Sam Nunn,
Wyche Fowler, Charles Robb, J.
James Exon, Alan Dixon, Richard
Shelby, John Breaux, J. Bennett
Johnston, David Boren, Ernest
Hoi 1 nigs and Dennis DeConcini.
Sens. James Jeffords and Bob
Packwood cast the only Republi
can votes against him.
It was the closest vote for a
successful Supreme Court nomi
nee since 1888 when Lucius Q.
Lamar went onto the bench on a
32-28 vote.
Three Democrats who had
supported Thomas before Hill's
charges were made public
switched sides and voted against
him: Harry Reid and Richard
Bryan, both of Nevada, and
Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut.
A federal appeals court judge
in Washington, Thomas was nom
inated to succeed retired justice
Thurgood Marshall, the first black
on the high court.
Court sources said Thomas
likely would be sworn in next
Monday morning.
Hill's charges, which resulted
in a week's delay in the confirma
tion vote, defined the final hours
of Senate debate. All but forgotten
were the early battle lines, in
which Thomas' supporters em
phasized his rags-to-riches story
and opponents characterized
Thomas as insensitive to women,
the elderly and fellow minorities.
"If we make a mistake today
the Supreme Court will be living
with it and the nation will be liv
ing with it for the next 30 to 40
years," argued Sen. Edward M.
Kennedy, D-Mass. "That is too
high a price to pay. ... To give the
benefit of the doubt to Judge
Thomas is to say that Judge
TJiomas is more important than
the Supreme Court."
However, Democrats J. James
Exon of Nebraska and Alan Dixon
of Illinois said Hill failed to con
clusively prove her allegations
against Thomas during three days
of Judiciary Committee hearings.
"The person being accused
gets the benefit of the doubt,"
Dixon said. "Judge Thomas is en
titled to the presumption of inno-
s position,
viewpoint
cence."
Exon said both were credible.
Hill in making accusations and
Thomas in denial, and, "unfortu
nately in my view, the hearings
have not provided any overall
conclusive facts or definite truth."
In the absence of such proof.
Exon said he would give the nom
inee his vote "without enthusi
asm," adding, "Judge Thomas
will be a better justice as a result"
of the ordeal.
In an impassioned speech. Sen.
Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., said he had
been prepared to vote for Thomas
but changed his mind after watch
ing Hill on television.
"Why should we give the ben
efit of the doubt to him?" Byrd
said. "If there is a cloud of doubt,
this is the last chance."
"I believe Anita Hill," said
Byrd, the Senate's president pro
tempore and former Democratic
leader, rejecting suggestions by
Republicans that she had fanta
sized her story, or made it up for
some reason.
He said that Thomas, by charg
ing that he was the victim of racist
Justice Thurgood Marshall(Ret.)
announced his retirement this summer.
He was the first black to serve on the
Supreme Court.
attacks, 'intended to divert both
the committee's and the American
public's attention away from the
issue at hand."
Republicans continued to as
sail Hill's credibility. "In my judg
ment, the weight of the evidence
supports Judge Thomas," said
Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., who led
the questioning of Hill during the
extraordinary weekend hearings.
Specter tangled on the Senate
floor with Kennedy after the Mas
sachusetts Democrat denounced
Republican treatment of Hill, in
cluding Specter's allegation she
had committed perjury.
"The way Professor Hill was
treated was shameful," Kennedy
said, jabbing his finger at Specter.
Specter responded: "We do
not need characterizations like
'shame' in this chamber from the
senator from Massachusetts. The
women of America should not lis
ten to the senator from Mas
sachusetts, who is trying to arouse
passions on the generalized sub
jects of sexual harassment."
Thomas was the first high
court nominee to win Senate con
firmation without the endorse
ment of the Judiciary Committee,
which refused on a 7-7 vote to rec
ommend his confirmation.
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