Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate

Hearings of Clarence Thomas

On July 1, 1991, President George H. W. Bush nominated Judge Clarence Thomas to the position of Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States to fill the vacancy upon the retirement of Justice Thurgood Marshall. At the time of Thomas’s nomination, he was in the seat vacated by Robert H. Bork on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia (appointed by President George H. W. Bush). Thomas served from 1974-77 as Assistant Attorney General of Missouri and between 1977 and 1979 as an attorney for Monsanto Company. From 1979-81 Thomas worked as a Legislative Assistant for U.S. Senator John C. Danforth, and in 1981 Thomas served as assistant secretary for civil rights in the U. S. Department of Education. Appointed by President Ronald W. Reagan, in 1982 Thomas became the chairman of the U. S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC).

The Thomas confirmation hearing to the U.S. Supreme Court took an unexpected twist following allegations of sexual harassment by Professor Anita Hill, his former assistant at the Department of Education. The Thomas hearing opened a discussion on the issue of sexual harassment in the workplace, making his confirmation hearing the most controversial since that of Robert H. Bork. Thomas was confirmed by the United States Senate by the narrowest margin to date for a successful Supreme Court nominee, a vote of 52–48.

Hearings of Judge Robert Bork

Judge Robert H. Bork was nominated by President Ronald W. Reagan to the position of Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States on July 1, 1987 to replace Justice Lewis F. Powell Jr. who had just retired. At the time of his nomination, Bork was a judge on the U. S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit from 1982 to 1988.

Bork had served as U. S. Solicitor General from 1973 to 1977 and acting Attorney General from 1973 to 1974. He was best known as the man who fired the Watergate Special Prosecutor, Archibald Cox, in the infamous "Saturday Night Massacre," October 20, 1973. Bork’s nomination was the longest confirmation hearing (five days of testimony) for any Supreme Court nominee since hearings began in 1939. His hearing marked the beginning of intense involvement of special interest groups in the hearing process. Commenting on Bork’s nomination, Senator Edward M. Kennedy made his famous “Robert Bork’s America” speech on national television.

Judge Bork did not receive the recommendation of the United States Senate Judiciary Committee, and Judge Bork’s nomination was ultimately rejected by the United States Senate by a 42- 58 vote on October 23, 1987.

Hearings of Justice Anthony Kennedy

After the failure of Supreme Court nominees Judge Robert H. Bork and Judge Douglas Ginsburg (who withdrew) to gain confirmation following the retirement of Justice Lewis F. Powell, Jr., President Ronald W. Reagan nominated Judge Anthony M. Kennedy to the position of Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States on November 30, 1987. At the time of his nomination, Kennedy was a judge on the U.S Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. He was in private practice in California from 1961–1975, and from 1965 to 1988, Kennedy was a Professor of Constitutional Law at the McGeorge School of Law, University of the Pacific.

In comparison to Bork’s hearing, Kennedy’s moved smoothly through the confirmation process. Kennedy remains the only nominee to ascend to the Supreme Court without a single Senator in opposition. He was confirmed on February 3, 1988 by a vote of 97-0.

Hearings of Justice David Souter

Born in Melrose, Massachusetts, Judge David H. Souter was nominated by President George H. W. Bush to the position of Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States on July 25, 1990 to fill the vacancy upon the retirement of Justice William J. Brennan, Jr. At the time of Souter’s nomination, he was a judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit (since May 25, 1990 named by President George H. W. Bush). Souter served as a prosecutor in the New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office, as the state’s Attorney General, as a trial judge, and as an associate justice of the New Hampshire Supreme Court. Souter was the only Justice at the time to have extensive court experience outside of a federal appeals court.

Despite strong opposition by the National Organization for Women, the United States Senate confirmed his nomination by a vote of 90-9 on October 2, 1990. Justice Souter retired from the Supreme Court on June 29, 2009.

Hearings of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg

President William Jefferson Clinton nominated Judge Ruth Bader Ginsburg to the position of Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States on June 14, 1993 to replace Justice Byron R. White who had retired. At the time of Ginsburg’s nomination, she was a judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit (appointed by President Jimmy Carter in 1980).

Her nomination marked the first by a Democrat since 1967 when President Lyndon B. Johnson named Justice Thurgood Marshall to the bench. She is the first female Jew named to the court and the second female to serve on the Court after Sandra Day O’Connor. Following graduation from law school, and although recommended by Harvard Law School’s Dean Albert Sachs, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States Felix Frankfurter declined to hire Ginsburg as a law clerk. He was not “ready to hire a woman." She served as a law clerk to the Honorable Edmund L. Palmieri, Judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, from 1959-1961.

Prior to her nomination, Ginsburg taught at Rutgers University Law School and would later become the first female tenured professor at Columbia Law School. In addition, she became the first woman to serve on the law review boards of both Harvard and Columbia, and many suggest that she came to prominence as the Director of the Women's Rights Project of the American Civil Liberties Union. In that capacity, between 1973 and 1976, she argued six women's rights cases before the Court and prevailed in five.

The United States Senate confirmed Ginsburg’s nomination by a vote of 96-3 on August 3, 1993.