RHETORIC AND POLITICAL-PROCESS IN THE HILL-THOMAS HEARINGS

The Senate Judiciary Committee hearings on Clarence Thomas' nomination to the Supreme Court in October 1991 provided Thomas and other Americans with something to criticize: the political process. At a time when the Judiciary Committee and the nation might have focused on the general issue of sexual harassment and the specific issue of whether Professor Anita Hill was harassed by Clarence Thomas, proceduralist rhetoric served to divert attention elsewhere. The process proved a convenient object for criticism; it functioned as scape-goat for American frustration.