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    Thomas’ wife asks Anita Hill for apology, Hill says no

    “Good morning, Anita Hill, it’s Ginni Thomas.”

    That was the beginning of a voicemail message received a few days ago by Anita Hill, a professor at Brandeis University who is still likely best known as the woman who accused then-Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas, Virginia “Ginni” Thomas’ husband, of sexual harassment during his 1991 confirmation hearings.

    “I just wanted to reach across the airwaves and the years and ask you to consider something,” continued the voicemail, left on Hill’s office exchange. “I would love you to consider an apology sometime and some full explanation of why you did what you did with my husband. So give it some thought and certainly pray about this and come to understand why you did what you did. Okay have a good day.”

    Hill’s reaction, believing it was likely a prank, was to call campus police, who in turn passed the message on the FBI.

    But it was not a prank – ABC news confirmed it with Mrs. Thomas herself.

    The Thomases at the justice's oath ceremony

    The Thomases at the justice's 1991 oath ceremony

    “I did place a call to Ms. Hill at her office extending an olive branch to her after all these years, in hopes that we could ultimately get passed what happened so long ago,” Mrs. Thomas told ABC News in an email. “That offer still stands, I would be very happy to meet and talk with her if she would be willing to do the same. Certainly no offense was ever intended.”

    Hill, however, said she was taken aback by the message.

    “I though it was certainly inappropriate,” Ms. Hill said in an interview with The New York Times. “It came in at 7:30 a.m. on my office phone from somebody I didn’t know, and she is asking for an apology. It was not invited. There was no background for it.”

    And, Hill said, no apology will be coming the Thomases’ way, because none is warranted.

    “Even if it wasn’t a prank, it was in no way conciliatory for her to begin with the presumption that I did something wrong in 1991,” Hill told ABC News. “I simply testified to the truth of my experience. For her to say otherwise is not extending an olive branch, it’s accusatory. … I don’t apologize. I have no intention of apologizing and I stand by my testimony in 1991.”

    During Thomas’ confirmation hearings 19 years ago, Anita Hill – then a law professor at the University of Oklahoma – came forward with accusations that Thomas sexually harassed her when she worked with him during his tenure as head of the Equal Employment Opportunities Commission. Hill told lawmakers that after she rebuffed his attempts to date her, he made inappropriate sexual comments to her, including references to pornography and pubic hair.

    When the media and lawmakers seized upon the allegations, Thomas famously called the maelstrom over Hill’s testimony “a high-tech lynching.”

    Thomas has consistently denied Hill’s claims. In his 2007 autobiography, “My Grandfather’s Son,” Thomas recalls – often bitterly – his tumultuous confirmation hearings, including Hill’s testimony. “I was being pursued not by bigots in white robes but by left-wing zealots draped in flowing sanctimony,” Thomas wrote

    Thomas was ultimately confirmed by a vote of 52-48, the lowest margin for any successful Supreme Court nominee.

    Hill has steadfastly stood by her story. In her 1998 book, “Speaking Truth to Power,” Hill said that despite the threats she received during and after her testimony, she does not regret it. “‘Would I do it again?’ I am often asked, and my answer is the same,” Hill wrote. “I would again answer truthfully when asked. I would pursue the matter once I filed my statement. I would testify as frankly and clearly as possible when questioned.”

    One Response to “Thomas’ wife asks Anita Hill for apology, Hill says no”

    1. [...] theories abound over Thomas-Hill phone call In the 24 hours or so after news broke that Justice Clarence Thomas’ wife called Anita Hill to ask her to apologize for “what you did with my husband,” pundits have offered their theories on why Virginia [...]

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