It’s been almost 30 years since Anita Hill took the stand during Clarence Thomas’ Supreme Court confirmation hearing to speak about the sexual harassment she experienced at his hands. And this week, Hill is speaking out in support of Christine Blasey Ford as she prepares to testify against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh during his hearings.
Hill, in an op-ed for the New York Times, wrote about the parallels between her and Ford, and hopes that things will turn out different for Ford.
“There is no way to redo 1991, but there are ways to do better,” Hill wrote.
“It’s impossible to miss the parallels between the Kavanaugh confirmation hearing of 2018 and the 1991 confirmation hearing for Justice Clarence Thomas,” Hill wrote. “In 1991, the Senate Judiciary Committee had an opportunity to demonstrate its appreciation for both the seriousness of sexual harassment claims and the need for public confidence in the character of a nominee to the Supreme Court.
“It failed on both counts.”
Hill then appeared on Good Morning America on Wednesday and said the senate needs to push the pause button on Kavanaugh, and she backs Ford’s request for an FBI investigation into Kavanaugh.
“Absolutely, it’s the right move,” Hill said of the FBI request. “The hearing questions need to have a frame and the investigation is the best frame for that. A neutral investigation, that can pull together the facts, create a record, so that the senators can draw on the information they receive to develop their question.”
Hill went on to say that the rush into confirming Kavanaugh shows that the senate isn’t taking the allegations seriously, and they possibly don’t know how to handle the situation.
“My advice is to push the pause button on this hearing, get the information together, bring in the experts and put together a hearing that is fair, that is impartial, that is not biased by politics or by myth and bring this information to the American public,” she said.
Kavanaugh has denied that he assaulted Ford 36-years-ago when they were both in high school.