Clarence Thomas was nominated to the U.S. Supreme Court by a Republican president in 1991.

The U.S. Senate confirmed him even though it was controlled by Democrats.

But during his entire service on the highest court in the land,

decades of arguments and rulings, Justice Thomas has been under a cloud.

That's because accusations of sexual harassment by Anita Hill were never fully resolved.

The Judiciary Committee, chaired by then Delaware Democrat Joe Biden,

refused to hear the testimony of other women who said they'd also been abused by Thomas.

Now, President Trump's latest nominee, Judge Brett Kavanaugh,

is accused of attempted rape when he was 17 years old.

The accuser is Dr. Christine Blaise Ford,

a professor in good standing in Northern California.

The current Senate Judiciary Committee,

controlled by Republicans, was expected

to confirm Kavanaugh's appointment by a narrow margin, but now in the era of hashtag me too,

the issue is much in doubt. Here's President Trump. I think he's an extraordinary man. I think

he's a man of great intellect, as I've been telling you, and he has

an unblemished record. This is a very tough thing for him and his family, and we want to get it

over with at the same time, we want to give tremendous amounts of time. If she shows up,

that would be wonderful. If she doesn't show up, that would be unfortunate.

Ilana Shore covers Congress for Politico.

Welcome to our podcast.

Thank you.

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