By Brian Cates
On July 1, 1991, President George H.W. Bush nominated Judge Clarence Thomas to replace the recently retired Justice Thurgood Marshall on the United States Supreme Court.
B
ush had made a compromise with the appointment of David Souter to replace longtime Justice, William Brennan. Now Bush knew he would face stiff opposition from the conservative wing of the GOP’s base if he didn’t nominate a judge with a strong background of conservative rulings.
Four years earlier, Judge Robert Bork had his nomination by President Ronald Reagan ruthlessly sabotaged by Massachusetts Senator Ted Kennedy.
The Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee that held the Bork confirmation hearings found himself completely overshadowed by the more popular and better-known Kennedy in 1987.
In 1991, four years later, this same Senator, still chairing the Judiciary Committee was eager for his own chance at the national spotlight as he preened and blustered during the Democrat’s latest attempt at thwarting a GOP nomination to the land’s highest court.
As the hearings unfolded, however, it soon became clear it was a mistake to let this particular senator lead the charge against Clarence Thomas.
Unlike Teddy Kennedy, who could rise to the occasion and be a fine orator, the Democrat’s point man in the Thomas confirmation hearings asked confusing questions, lectured the nominee in a condescending fashion and rambled through much of the proceedings, unable to score the knockout blow.
Desperate measures fail
As the hearings drew to their conclusion and the final vote loomed, it was clear that Thomas would be confirmed unless something was done. Sexual allegations against him, that the FBI had already investigated and found to be baseless, were leaked to the news media. The leak had the intended results, focusing the attention of the nation on the Senate chamber.
As most of the country watched in awful fascination, the Democrats brought out a former co-worker of Thomas named Anita Hill, who claimed he had sexually harassed her years earlier.
While Judge Thomas and his family sat in stunned disbelief, the hearings took one surreal turn after another as the Democrats resorted to transparent fraud to forestall his confirmation.
It wasn't until the circus surrounding the Brett Kavanaugh nomination in 2018 that the farce of the Thomas hearings was surpassed.
“This is a circus. It’s a national disgrace. It is a high-tech lynching for uppity blacks who in any way deign to think for themselves. And it is a message that unless you kowtow to an old order you will be lynched, destroyed, caricatured by a committee of the US Senate rather than hung from a tree.”
The 2020 election’s biggest plot twist?
The final act of this fascinating 2020 election drama currently unfolding before the entire nation could very well end up bringing Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and presidential candidate Joe Biden face to face yet again, even if only indirectly.
Biden, of course, will be represented by his legal team and won’t be present in the courtroom. But it is still a compelling narrative.
The pieces are still moving on the board but looking ahead it’s becoming increasingly likely that the 2020 election comes down to a Supreme Court decision, much as it did in the 2000 contest between George W. Bush and Al Gore.
Given that the recent addition of Amy Coney Barrett to the Court has shifted the balance of power, such an ending to the election would favor current President Donald J. Trump.
Many a political commentator pointed out at the time, both back in 1991 and more recently in 2018, that the Democrats might come to regret their scorched earth tactics against GOP nominees like Thomas and Brett Kavanaugh, since both men successfully ascended to the nation’s highest court.
Biden’s biggest failure?
Ted Kennedy succeeded in keeping Robert Bork off the Supreme Court, something that strengthened his reputation as the “Lion of the Senate” for the remainder of his career.
In contrast, Biden eagerly seized the reins but then abysmally failed in his bid at derailing the Thomas nomination, and Justice Thomas has been on the Supreme Court for 29 years.
Things are shaping up in such a way that Biden’s failed bid to deny Thomas a seat on the Court could very well come back to haunt him in one of the most truly karmic twists of American history.
If enough GOP-controlled state legislatures in key battleground states such as Pennsylvania, Georgia, Michigan, Wisconsin, Arizona or Nevada are successful in challenging the election results due to the Democrats' massive fraud, Trump has a clear pathway to victory and reelection.
Twenty-nine years after the "high-tech lynching" that Joe Biden personally orchestrated, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas being in a position to dramatically slam the White House doors shut in Biden’s face is exactly the kind of plot twist this election needs.
Brian Cates entered the political arena in March 2012, following the death of Andrew Breitbart. He is currently a political columnist for The Epoch Times and UncoverDC. Brian is based in South Texas and is the author of: “Nobody Asked For My Opinion … But Here It Is Anyway!”
Twitter: @drawandstrike
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