Joe Biden has said he wish he had done more for Anita Hill in 1991 when she testified against the nomination of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, claiming he sexually harassed her.
‘I wish I had been able to do more for Anita Hill,’ the former Vice President told Teen Vogue.
‘I owe her an apology.’
Biden was chair of the Senate of the Senate Judiciary Committee when Hill testified that Thomas, her former boss, sexually harassed her.
Joe Biden has said he wish he had done more for Anita Hill in 1991 when she testified against the nomination of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, claiming he sexually harassed her
Clarence Thomas was appointed to the Supreme Court by President George HW Bush in 1991. He is pictured June 1, 2017
When he was first appointed, Anita Hill spoke in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee, urging Thomas not to be placed on the Supreme Court and alleging he sexually harassed her. She is pictured in 1992 during one of the hearings
She spoke forward and urged the committee not to allow him to be placed on the Supreme Court.
‘I believed Anita Hill. I voted against Clarence Thomas,’ Biden explained.
‘And I insisted the next election – I campaigned for two women senators on the condition that if they won they could come on the Judiciary Committee, so there would never be again all men making a judgment on this.’
Thomas, who is widely considered the most conservative member of the court, was ultimately confirmed and still serves on it to this day.
Throughout the testimony her character and trustworthiness were brought into question and attacked by those on the panel – and many have blamed Biden for not doing more to prevent that.
He said he regrets not being able to stop some of the attacks launched against her by his Republican co-workers.
‘My one regret is that I wasn’t able to tone down the attacks on her by some of my Republican friends,’ he told the magazine.
‘I mean, they really went after. As much as I tried to intervene, I did not have the power to gavel them out of order. I tried to be like a judge and only allow a question that would be relevant to ask.’
Throughout the testimony her character and trustworthiness were brought into question and attacked by those on the panel – and many have blamed Biden for not doing more to prevent that. Biden and Hill are pictured during the 1991 hearings
Hill (pictured during the hearings in 1991) alleged to members of the committee during her testimony that Thomas frequently spoke about the size of women’s breasts, which members of the committee then said was ‘not too bad,’ according to the Washington Post
Thomas, who is widely considered the most conservative member of the court, was ultimately confirmed and still serves on it to this day
In 1991 Hill, who was a law professor, sat before the Judiciary Committee and gave a long testimony, detailing the alleged sexual harassment she experienced from Thomas.
Hill alleged to members of the committee during her testimony that Thomas frequently spoke about the size of women’s breasts, which members of the committee then said was ‘not too bad,’ according to the Washington Post.
She has rejected Biden’s prior public apologies and said he doesn’t fully understand his ‘ownership’ of the hearings.
‘He doesn’t understand that it wasn’t just that I felt it was not fair,’ she told the Post in a recent interview.
‘It was that women were looking to the Senate Judiciary Committee and his leadership to really open the way to have these kind of hearings.
‘They should have been using best practices to show leadership on this issue on behalf of women’s equality. And they did just the opposite.’