Editorials
CONTENTS Volume CXVIII, Number 18 Correspondence 594 Editorials 595 We doubt these truths: Paul Sracic 596 The proliferation problem: J. Bryan Hehir 598 Alone with our rights: John Garvey...
...and the veracity of Clarence Thomas and Anita Hill--important as these are--should not obscure the corrosive state into which the nomination process has fallen...
...The second is the liberal alliance that, in reaction, has taken the view that anything goes in blocking nominations...
...Juan Williams of the Washington Post (October 10, 199 l) reports that because of his news stories about Thomas, he received phone calls from staff working for Democrats on the Judiciary Committee, searching for "anything on your tapes that we can use to stop Thomas...
...Clarence Thomas, innocent or guilty, has been caught in rising standards of behavior embodied in Title VII of the Civil Rights Act...
...From the start, then, it was clear, and the hearings confmned, that Thomas was not a nominee of the highest caliber...
...More disheartening than the sorry state of imbalance in our system of checks and balances is the readiness of the usual defenders of fairness and procedural and civil rights to remain silent about the atmosphere of "anything goes," about the leak, and about the violation of Clarence Thomas's and Anita Hill's rights...
...That is part of what the law does, it helps enforce moral standards and change people's behavior...
...The mean and ugly spirit that dominates the nominations process must stop...
...Like a grand jury, the committee must decide not only how credible allegations are, but whether they are capable of resolution...
...The primary responsibility for this state of affairs lies with two groups...
...Bush refuses, the Senate Judiciary Committee should put him on notice that it will reject all nominees--that is assuming, there be any willing to enter the maw of this voracious animal called public service...
...Staff: Harriette Balsky, Carmen Alava, Pamela Quatse Advertising Manager: Ruth E. Taylor Publisher: Edward S. Skillin Commonweal welcomes letters on subjects treated in its pages...
...His own testimony raised questions about his judicial abilities: Was a man who forgot, denied, or dismissed his own previous statements capable of serving on the Court...
...Display advertising correspondence should be sent to Ruth E. Taylor, 11 Graffam Rd., So...
...10038...
...04106 (207) 799-4387, classified advertising correspondence to 15 Dutch St...
...After all, these people were engaged in the difficult task of refounding their political system, and of necessity (I thought) the Thomas hearings would engage the committee members, the nominee, and other witnesses in discussion of some foundational principles of our own system, within which the Supreme Court is responsible for protecting 596: Commonweal...
...Anita Hill's allegations, although serious, were also ten years old and involved things that, if done, were done in private...
...Not only are we ignorant of who, if anyone, is telling the truth, but it was predictable from the start that this ignorance could not be overcome responsibly outside of a court of law...
...Ordinary Americans, women as well as men, were quoted as asking themselves such common-sense questions that had become inadmissible in official circles...
...Commonweal, [ISSN 0010-3330] A Review of Public Affairs, Religion, Literature, and the Arts, is published biweekly, except monthly Christmas, New Year's and July and August, by Commonweal Foundation, 15 Dutch St., New York, N.Y...
...What civil libertarian, what Senate Democrat has expressed regret at the violation of the party's own political principles...
...The last two weeks strained the nerves of a society struggling to assimilate new developments, both positive and negative, in the relations between men and women and in the real but precarious achievements of African-Americans...
...From the beginning reasonable people could foresee that these charges could not be resolved--as they were not...
...But Clarence Thomas, innocent or guilty, has also been caught in a public atmosphere that makes all distinctions virtually impossible...
...In addition, his experience growing up black and poor might give the Court a perspective it needed...
...Was the Judiciary Committee too quick to dismiss Hill's allegations...
...If he did conduct himself improperly, he is now guilty of perjury...
...and they violated the confidentiality promised Anita Hill by the Judiciary Committee...
...In evaluating the unprecedented, grueling, and, at moments, bizarre inquiry into allegations of sexual misconduct by Judge Thomas, others need not restrict themselves to a single, simple verdict...
...The administration's campaign on Thomas's behalf and the management by "handlers" of his appearance before the Judiciary Committee raised doubts about his independence...
...THE THOMAS HEARINGS (FIRST ROUND) WE DOUBT THESE TRUTHS NATURAL LAW TAKES A BEATING n the morning of September 10, the day the Senate Judiciary Committee was to begin its hearings on the nomination of Clarence Thomas to the Supreme Court, I paged through the newspaper to learn when the telecast was to begin...
...But even more dramatically, the final phase of Judge Thomas's confirmation brutally exposed a cynical ruthlessness working its poison at the heart of our political life...
...Still, Thomas deserved a fair hearing (Commonweal, August 9, 1991 ). Despite his political provenance and lack ofj udicial experience, it was possible that the proceedings would show a man ready for appointment to the Supreme Court...
...What if this behavior was an aberration in the life of a man otherwise extraordinarily upright and respectful of women...
...The cynicism displayed by both the president and his opponents is dismaying, but frankly we expected better of the latter...
...In that atmosphere, which no public figure had the courage to challenge, how could Thomas prove that even one episode of aberrational behavior had not taken place...
...Williams described this search as "indiscriminate, mean-spirited mudslinging" led by champions of fairness: "liberal politicians, unions, civil rights groups, and women's organizations...
...It wasn't easy, since the hearings had to share print space with so many eye-catching stories on events in the Soviet Union...
...There is a clear and constitutional resolution to the problem of nominations...
...Perhaps so...
...If so, I thought, they shouM be watching...
...If George Bush cannot be sure who these are, why not use the full rubric of the Constitution to seek the advice and consent of the Senate...
...Before seeking the consent of the Senate to the appointment of a justice, seek its advice about suitable candidates...
...Clarence Thomas's nomination to the Supreme Court to replace Thurgood Marshall was a clever and cynical choice by George Bush...
...But the essential problem remains...
...Only by restricting itself to pursuing those allegations which meet that threshold, can the committee keep itself from becoming a court of innuendo and smear...
...10038...
...they violated the right of Clarence Thomas to stand innocent until proven guilty...
...That he had never spoken of Roe v. Wade, as he claimed, I 25 October 1991:595 was hardly credible and raised questions about his integrity and his willingness to trim his testimony to the exigencies of the nominating process...
...George Bush should stop packing the Court...
...If Mr...
...POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Commonweal, 15 Dutch St...
...Under its provisions, the Court has ruled that verbal as well as physical behaviour in the workplace can constitute sexual harassment...
...Was the Senate better able to decide how to vote...
...Such tactics finally included bypassing the nomination process and leaking an affidavit from Professor Anita Hill...
...Letters should not exceed 250 words and are subject to editing for clarity and spacing limitations...
...A weekend of charges, counter-charges, and efforts to undermine everyone's testimony could not have resolved allegations that belonged in a court of law...
...With a tie vote of 7-7, the Judiciary Committee sent the nomination to the full Senate and it appeared that Thomas had enough votes to win approval...
...In our view, the search for dirt and the leak were wrong on three counts: they violated the nomination process...
...All the roll that has followed about sexual harassment...
...We have argued that were Thomas defeated, succeeding nominees were unlikely to be an improvement...
...New York, N.Y...
...The first is the successive Republican administrations that have pursued a project of reorienting the Court by choosing nominees of little distinction but of known fidelity to the president's political agenda...
...The distraction made me wonder whether, thousands of miles away, delegates to the Russian parliament in Moscow were also checking TV schedules to see if CNN would be showing the confirmation process...
...George W. Grayson 609 Poetry: John Cavadini 612 Screen: Richard Alleva 614 Stage: Gerald Weales 615 Media: Frank McConnell 616 BOOKS How to Read Karl Barth: Garrett Green 618 Beyond Numeracy/The Man Who Knew Infinity: Paul E. Budde 620 In Pursuit of the Kingdom: John C. Cort 622 STAFF Editor: Margaret O' Brien Steinfels Managing Editor: Patrick Jordan Associate Editor: Paul Baumann Production Editor: Jacqueline Dowdell Senior Writer: Robert G. Hoyt Movies: Richard Alleva Stage: Gerald Weales Poetry: Rosemary Deen Columnists: John Garvey, J. Bryan Hehir, Abigail McCarthy, David R. Carlin, Jr...
...Surely there are moderate and capable jurists acceptable to both the president and the Senate...
...But the nomination process and legitimate debate about Thomas's fitness for the Court were torpedoed by a leak to the media of Hill's charges of sexual harassment...
...male insensitivity to the problem...
...Telephone: (212) 732-0800...
...There was a sound reason for the committee's course of action, whether or not it was the reason committee members had in mind...
...Genuine concerns about his lack of independence, integrity, and judicial abilities were sufficient to justify a "no" vote...
...Were the allegations the deeds of a mentally ill woman described with beady-eyed fervor by Orrin Hatch, or could they have been played out in any number of ways--ranging from offensive but unthreatening banter to sadistic torment of a woman employee...
...COMMONWE AL i i Cynics a t wasn the end, the Senate had to cast a simple vote, yea or nay, on the nomination of Clarence Thomas to be an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court...
...The effort to dig up unsavory, unflattering--any--information that would show a nominee in a bad light began with the Robert Bork nomination and has continued...
...How could he present any defense except his sweeping denials...
...Portland, Me...
...If the law and the current uproar over Hill's allegations result in changing men's behavior and encouraging women to speak up, that is to the good...
...CONTENTS Volume CXVIII, Number 18 Correspondence 594 Editorials 595 We doubt these truths: Paul Sracic 596 The proliferation problem: J. Bryan Hehir 598 Alone with our rights: John Garvey 599 The news media & abortion: Jeb Byrne 601 Jesuit colleges without Jesuits?: Thomas F. Troy 605 Latin America: Three reports: Kenneth P. Jameson, Tom Vogel, Jr...
...Thus the question of Thomas's character, which he had chosen to emphasize in the hearings, made it impossible for the Senate to proceed with its vote on October 8. Did the second round of hearings make us any more knowledgeable about Thomas's fitness for the Supreme Court...
...In fact, there is much we do not know about its inner workings...
Vol. 118 • October 1991 • No. 18
