Law professor Anita Hill wrote Thursday in an op-ed that the Me Too movement against sexual misconduct could have begun decades earlier if the Senate Judiciary Committee, then chaired by Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden, had given her a fair hearing when she accused Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas of sexual harassment.
Biden's oversight of Thomas's 1991 confirmation hearing has come under renewed scrutiny in recent months under the fresh spotlight of the Me Too movement and the former vice president's 2020 presidential run. Biden called Hill last month to express his regret for the proceedings, where Hill faced aggressive questioning over her allegations against Thomas. Hill, now a law professor at Brandeis University, told The New York Times that the conversation left her unsatisfied.
But in an op-ed published by the Times, Hill said talk of whether she has forgiven Biden misses the point.
“If the Senate Judiciary Committee, led then by Mr. Biden, had done its job and held a hearing that showed that its members understood the seriousness of sexual harassment and other forms of sexual violence, the cultural shift we saw in 2017 after #MeToo might have began in 1991 — with the support of the government,” she wrote.
But, she continued, if the Me Too movement, which began in earnest in 2017, gave victims of sexual violence hope their concerns would finally be taken seriously, “that hope was dashed last year” during the confirmation hearing of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh.
Hill applauded professor Christine Blasey Ford’s courage for testifying about her allegations of sexual assault against Kavanaugh, and ripped then-Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley’s “callous and ham-handed” handling of the issue.
While committee Republicans sought to avoid a replay of Hill’s testimony, bringing in outside, female counsel to question Blasey Ford, Hill contended their efforts fell short.“Even worse, a new generation was forced to conclude that politics trumped a basic and essential expectation: that claims of sexual abuse would be taken seriously,” she wrote.
Despite the progress made by the #MeToo movement, Hill wrote that there is still work to be done. She cited a spike in reported harassment among members of the military over the last two years, and implored Congress to become a leader in instituting new changes to demonstrate they take the issue seriously.
“Sexual violence is a national crisis that requires a national solution. We miss that point if we end the discussion at whether I should forgive Mr. Biden,” she said. “This crisis calls for all leaders to step up and say: ‘The healing from sexual violence must begin now. I will take up that challenge.’”
Article originally published on POLITICO Magazine