On October 15, 1991, Thomas was confirmed to the Supreme Court of the United States by a narrow Senate majority of 52 to 48.
{...}
On July 1, 1991, President Bush nominated Judge Clarence Thomas of the District of Columbia Circuit to replace retiring justice Thurgood Marshall, a civil rights icon and the court's first African American justice.[10] When introducing Thomas that day, the president called him "the best person" in the country to take Marshall's place on the court, a characterization belied, according to constitutional law expert Michael Gerhardt, by Thomas's "limited professional distinction, with his most significant legal experiences having been a controversial tenure as chairman of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and barely more than one year of experience as a federal court of appeals judge."
{...}
Mayer and Abramson say Biden abdicated control of the Thomas confirmation hearings and did not call Angela Wright to the stand.[41] They report that four women traveled to Washington, D.C., to corroborate Anita Hill's claims, including Wright and Jourdain.[41]
According to Mayer and Abramson, soon after Thomas was sworn in, three reporters for The Washington Post "burst into the newsroom almost simultaneously with information confirming that Thomas's involvement with pornography far exceeded what the public had been led to believe."[68] These reporters had eyewitness testimony and video rental records showing Thomas's interest in and use of pornography.[69] However, according to Jeffrey Toobin, because Thomas was already sworn in by the time the video store evidence emerged, The Washington Post dropped the story.[68] The book by Mayer and Abramson was subsequently made into a movie.
{...}
Thomas won with the support of 41 Republicans and 11 Democrats, while 46 Democrats and 2 Republicans voted to reject his nomination.
www.independent.co.uk
