US Justice Thomas’ wife calls Anita Hill
Virginia “Ginni” Thomas, wife of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas acknowledges that she made a call to Anita Hill‘s office at Brandeis University last weekend.
An ABC News blog said Mrs. Thomas left a message asking Hill to consider apologizing for “what you did with my husband.”
Hill was the law professor at the center of Clarence Thomas’ 1991 confirmation hearings scandal. She publicly accused him of making sexually inappropriate comments when she was his aide at the Equal Employment Opportunity Office. Thomas blasted the proceedings as “a high-tech lynching.”
“I did place a call to Ms. Hill at her office extending an olive branch to her after all these years, in hopes that we could ultimately get passed (sic) what happened so long ago,” Virginia Thomas said in a statement a spokesperson emailed to Reuters.
“That offer still stands, I would be very happy to meet and talk with her if she would be willing to do the same. Certainly no offense was ever intended.”
ABC reports Hill says “no” to apology and that Brandeis turned the telephone message over to the FBI which isn’t commenting.
Virginia Thomas is a longtime Washington conservative activist, founder of the nonprofit Liberty Central organization and active in the Tea Party movement.
The First Draft: The judge faces her questioners
Confirmation hearings begin for Appeals Court Judge Sonia Sotomayor, the first Hispanic woman to be nominated for the Supreme Court.
President Barack Obama ‘s pick to fill his first high court vacancy will appear before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Monday at 10 a.m. EDT/1400 GMT, with hearings expected to last most of the week.
After returning from a weeklong overseas trip, Obama called Sotomayor to wish her luck as she headed to Capitol Hill to face her questioners.
Sotomayor is expected to win confirmation but will likely face some tough questioning from Republicans who want to spotlight what they fear will be Sotomayor’s “activist” approach to the law.
After a traveling to Russia, Italy and Ghana, Obama settles back into his presidential routine with a day of briefings at the White House. His only scheduled foray from the White House is when he goes next door to the Eisenhower Executive Office Building to speak at an Urban and Metropolitan Policy Roundtable in the afternoon.
But he will likely be keeping a close eye on what happens on Capitol Hill with the Sotomayor hearings in the Senate. On the House side, committees are expected to formally introduce their healthcare reform bill — addressing Obama’s top legislative agenda. Senate committees are meeting to discuss details of their versions of the bills.
The First Draft: Hillary on the hot seat
Obama’s dream team faces its first test on Tuesday as the Senate holds confirmation hearings for Hillary Clinton and several other Cabinet picks.
The hearings will provide a sneak peak at relations between the Obama administration and Congress. Obama’s fellow Democrats control both chambers, but that’s no guarantee of smooth sailing.
Clinton, nominated for Secretary of State, will have to answer some pointed questions about hubby Bill’s globe-trotting activities, but observers expect her to win confirmation easily. The fun begins at 9:30 EST.
Also on the hot seat today: Energy Secretary nominee Steven Chu; Education Secretary nominee Arne Duncan; Housing and Urban Development Secretary nominee Shaun Donovan; and Peter Orszag, nominated to head the Office of Management and Budget.
Meanwhile, George W. Bush is still president. He holds his last Cabinet meeting today and will award the Presidential Medal of Freedom to former Australian Prime Minister John Howard.
Howard has taken some flak back home because he is staying at the Blair House, across the street from the White House. Obama had hoped to stay at the swanky mansion before taking office next week, but Bush said the space was already booked. Obama and his family are camping out at a nearby hotel, the Hay-Adams.
Photo credit: REUTERS/Lucas Jackson (Clinton at New Year festivities in Times Square, Dec. 31)
This will be a fun four years to watch. She has talked big, but now she will have to produce results.
Easier said than done…..
Every patriotic American should say a prayer( or make a wish if you are atheist) that Judge Thomas will retire at his earliest convenience, to spare America, and his family and most of all the entire American Judiciary from the trauma he had inflicted and laid trap on us. It seems that nothing less than his own ego matters to him— not his legacy, not rules in testifying(avoid conjecture, avoid arguments fashioned deliberately to mislead the public about the law), not his oath to uphold justice and the law.