Senate Judiciary Committee Holds Televised Thomas–Hill Hearings
Event Reviewed Automatically reviewed for factual accuracy, tone, and neutrality. Review does not check claims against cited sources. Last reviewed 21 October 2026.The Senate Judiciary Committee, chaired by Joe Biden, reopens Clarence Thomas's Supreme Court confirmation hearings to take testimony on law professor Anita Hill's sexual harassment allegations; the three days of hearings are televised nationally.
Live hearings bring a harassment allegation against a Supreme Court nominee to a national audience.
After Hill’s allegations became public while the full Senate was considering the nomination, Judiciary Committee chairman Joe Biden scheduled additional hearings so that Hill and Thomas could each testify in public. Over October 11–13, 1991, Hill testified that Thomas had sexually harassed her, and Thomas denied the allegations, calling the proceedings “a high-tech lynching for uppity blacks who in any way deign to think for themselves.”
The Senate confirmed Thomas on October 15, 1991, by a vote of 52 to 48. The Museum of Broadcast Communications’ television encyclopedia describes the broadcast hearings as having functioned as “a public referendum on sexual harassment” and credits them with energizing women voters in the 1992 elections.
Sources
- 01.
Museum of Broadcast Communications. Anita Hill-Clarence Thomas Hearings. Encyclopedia of Television entry. Source that the hearings, conducted by the Senate Judiciary Committee on Anita Hill's allegations of sexual harassment by nominee Clarence Thomas, were televised nationally from October 11 to October 13, 1991; for Thomas's description of the proceedings as 'a high-tech lynching for uppity blacks who in any way deign to think for themselves'; for the 52 to 48 confirmation vote; and for the entry's assessment that the hearings functioned as 'a public referendum on sexual harassment' and are credited with energizing women voters in 1992.
- 02.
United States Senate. Nomination Hearings for Supreme Court Justices. Lists the Thomas hearing record as S. Hrg. 102-1084, parts 1-4, with part 4 held October 11, 12 and 13, 1991, after the September hearings in parts 1-3.
- 03.
United States Senate. Supreme Court Nominations (1789-Present). Source that Thomas, nominated July 8, 1991 to replace Thurgood Marshall, was confirmed on October 15, 1991 by a vote of 52-48 (roll call no. 220).
- 04.
Robinson, G. (1996). Hill-Thomas Hearings. Source that Committee Chair Joseph R. Biden scheduled further hearings to give Hill and Thomas an opportunity to testify publicly, and that the hearings on Thomas's conduct began on October 11, 1991 'before a nationwide television audience.'
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