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By Root 834 0

never treated anyone on his staff in the manner described by me. Angela Wright’s testimony would be enough to rebut that claim, as would the testimony of Sukari Hardnett, a woman who served as Thomas’ special assistant in the mid-1980s and gave the committee a statement asserting that she, too, had witnessed similar behavior by Thomas. But Angela Wright’s testimony was relevant on its own without my testimony. According to Angela Wright, Thomas had commented often on the anatomy and appearance of women in the office, making many derogatory remarks about women’s figures. He had asked her the size of her breasts and commented that certain parts of her appearance “turned him on.” Wright would also testify that Thomas showed up, uninvited, at her apartment one evening. And though according to Wright, Thomas’ suggestions had not “bothered” her, Wright’s corroborating witness, Rose Jourdain, would describe how Wright had come into her office crying in response to remarks by Thomas. Regardless of whether Wright was describing Thomas’ behavior as sexual harassment, it was relevant to the confirmation hearing because it reflected on the judgment and professional character of the nominee.

Similarly, Sukari Hardnett asserted that Thomas attempted to date her and that when she refused, his attitude toward her became less friendly. According to Hardnett, he then attempted to enlist her help in getting friends of hers to date him. In addition to rebutting Thomas’ claim that he treated female staff members as professionals and took no personal interest in them, Hardnett’s observations, like Wright’s, reflect on Thomas’ carriage and demeanor in the workplace.

Hardnett’s and Wright’s testimonies would have been relevant as support to my claim, in establishing a pattern of sexual advances and comments in the workplace and directed toward his assistants. In considering the conduct, much can be made of the similarities between Hardnett, Wright, and me. We were all roughly the same age at the time of the incidents—all younger than Thomas. We were all single women and thus could be easily viewed as vulnerable. We are all from southern or rural backgrounds with relatively few connections to power in Washington. And we are all black.

In the end, the Senate seemed hostile to hearing from any of us. Neither Wright nor Hardnett was called, and I was allowed to testify only after public pressure mandated it. Later I learned that a fourth woman, Kaye Savage, had also tried to contact the Senate, to testify to Judge Thomas’ fascination with pornography. At the time I lived in Washington, Kaye, who worked in the Reagan White House as a political appointee, was a mutual friend of mine and Thomas’. The committee dismissed her without even taking her statement. And in addition to rejecting the information offered by these witnesses, the committee refused to hear from experts in the field of sexual harassment. Dr. Louise Fitzgerald, a noted psychologist and academician who has worked for years studying sexual harassment, was ready and available to provide the committee, formally or informally, with information about sexual harassment. Dr. Fitzgerald did provide the committee with a fact sheet on the issue. But the committee would later cite lack of time as a basis for not calling her.

By late afternoon the morning clouds had turned to drizzle. After hearing from the panel of corroborating witnesses, the committee took a brief recess. Back at the hotel, having returned from church, my family waited, unaware of my activity that morning. Emma Jordan hurriedly gathered them for an announcement about the polygraph examination and the press conference, while outside the Senate building, Paul Minor and Charles Ogletree held a press conference to announce the results of the polygraph examination. After explaining his credentials and administration of the test, Minor announced that “there was no indication of deception to any relevant questions.” Scientific evidence now refuted the conjecture of the Republican senators that I was lying. There was elation and