Justice Thomas: It Was All About Abortion

Justice Clarence Thomas has given his first television interview to Steve Kroft of 60 Minutes, and in the interview he talks about his controversial confirmation hearings and how it set the stage for the confirmation battles of today (from Drudge):

In his first television interview, in which he discusses his childhood, his race, his rise to Supreme Court Justice and his job on the nation's highest court, Clarence Thomas says the real issue at his controversial confirmation hearings 16 years ago was abortion. Saying the issue was "the elephant in the room," Thomas also tells Steve Kroft that the hearings he called at the time a "high tech lynching" harmed the country. The interview will be broadcast on 60 MINUTES, Sunday Sept. 30 (7:30-9:00 PM/ET, 7:00-9:00 PM /PT) on the CBS Television Network.

Thomas, whose Supreme Court positions on abortion issues have been conservative, says the confirmation hearings in which he was accused of sexual harassment by a former employee -- allegations he continues to deny -- were really about abortion. "That was the elephant in the room... That was the issue. That is the issue that people are apparently so upset about," he tells Kroft. "[That is the issue] that you determine the composition of your Supreme Court and your entire federal judiciary, it seems now," says Thomas.

He says the hearings harmed the accuser, Anita Hill, himself, and ultimately the country by setting a precedent manifested in other highly charged, media-infused events such as the impeachment trial of President Bill Clinton. "The process harmed her. It harmed me and we see sort of the precedent of this kind of thing begin to harm even people like President Clinton," Thomas believes. "Things are out of control. That's not good for the country. It's not good for the court," he continues, "What are we going to look like years from now if we can't get people confirmed because everybody gets to attack them. They get to draw and quarter them," he says.

The whole Anita Hill accusation was a farce, but it was the only hope the liberal had of derailing the Thomas nomination, and it almost worked. The Senate hadn't quite fractured as completely as it has today and Thomas was able to squeak through, but now every Republican nomination could is subject to brutal tactics, regardless of the nominee's qualifications.

Abortion has driven every nomination since then, and should Bush get another opening on the court before he leaves office, there's virtually no chance that anyone with any history of being pro-life will ever get confirmed. We can thank television for a lot of these battles.

I was reading that in the pre-television days some judges actually refused to attend their confirmation hearings. The prevailing opinion was it would be improper for a judge to answer questions that might reflect his beliefs about a particular case. It's too bad things have changed to where every nominee is expected to spill his inner soul in the laps of TV and the Senate Judiciary Committee so they can properly judge his motivations.

I remember hearing Rush Limbaugh describe a conversation he had with his good friend, Justice Thomas. He asked Thomas how he handled all the criticism he's received. According to Rush, Thomas just smiled and said "I have a lifetime appointment".