CBS used the recent Trump Tapes controversy as an opportunity to resurrect Anita Hill's 25-year-old case against the Supreme Court justice. Hill, who served as Clarence Thomas's assistant (then a Supreme Court nominee), accused her boss of sexual assault. She testified in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee that Thomas routinely harassed her, but the case did not go forward. Instead, on Oct. 15, 1991, Thomas was confirmed to the Supreme Court.
Still, Hill has not changed her story and told CBS this week that now that sexual assault is back in the news, we cannot forget the victims in the midst of all the sensational headlines.
“For 25 years we have been saying that sexual harassment is something that affects so many women,” said Hill, now 60.
“The focus of the conversation should be the harm that harassment causes the victims and how we’re going to prevent it,” she said.
Instead of recognizing the 25-year anniversary of Thomas's sexual assault case, CBS should have recognized Thomas's 25 years on the court, Paoletta argued.
"Justice Thomas is about to celebrate his 25th anniversary as a Supreme Court justice – a quarter-century worth of outstanding jurisprudence that has won him praise from all sides," he notes.
Paoletta goes on to remind CBS that Americans took Thomas' side by a ratio of 2-to-1 and none of Hill's colleagues corroborated her story. Instead, on the witness stand, they defended Thomas.
While CBS may be trying to smear Thomas' legacy, Paoletta points out in an op-ed in The Hill that the new National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C. is ignoring his legacy altogether.