After a bitter confirmation hearing, the U.S. Senate votes 52 to 48 to
confirm Clarence Thomas to the U.S. Supreme Court.

In July 1991, Thurgood Marshall, the first African American to sit on the
Supreme Court, announced his retirement after 34 years. President
George Bush quickly nominated Clarence Thomas, a 43-year-old African
American judge known for his conservative beliefs, to fill the seat. He  
had been chairman of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
during the Reagan administration, and in 1990 Bush had appointed him
to the U.S. Court of Appeals. As the confirmation hearings for Thomas’
Supreme Court nomination got underway, he evaded controversy over
his conservative views on issues such as abortion by refusing to state
a clear political position. He seemed headed for an easy confirmation
until Anita Hill, a former aide, stepped forward and accused him of
sexual harassment.

   
Anita Hill during the confirmation hearings.    
    

Hill is a university professor of social policy, law, and women’s
studies at Brandeis University and a faculty member of the
university’s Heller School for Social Policy and Management.
    
    

Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas turned 71 in June.

Anita Faye Hill became 63 in July.

CAMILLE
BOHANNON

Musician and actor Sting (Gordon Matthew Thomas Sumner) is 68 years
old today. He was the principal songwriter, lead singer, and bassist for
the new wave  rock band the Police from 1977 to 1984, and launched a
solo career in 1985. He has included elements of rock, jazz, reggae,
classical, new-age and worldbeat in his music.

First meeting of the United States Supreme Court, Feb. 1790.

The Judiciary Act of 1789 is passed by Congress and signed by President
George Washington, establishing the Supreme Court of the United States
as a tribunal made up of six justices who were to serve on the court until
death or retirement. That day, President Washington nominated John Jay
to preside as chief justice, and John Rutledge, William Cushing, John Blair,
Robert Harrison, and James Wilson to be associate justices. On September
26, all six appointments were confirmed by the U.S. Senate.

John Jay (December 23, 1745 – May 17, 1829)

FIRST Chief Justice of the United States
In office September 26, 1789 – June 29, 1795

   
    
    
    
    
   
The Old Royal Exchange, in New York City, where the first
meeting of the Court was held in February 1790, though
with no cases to hear.

SANDY KOZEL

Horror author Stephen Edwin King is 72 today.

  
1980                                  1990

President Bill Clinton lies about his relationship with Monica
Lewinsky during his televised testimony before a grand jury.  

TIM MAGUIRE

On this day in 1966, the Supreme Court hands down its decision in Miranda v. Arizona, establishing the principle that all criminal suspects must be advised
of their rights before interrogation. Now considered standard police procedure, “You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can, and will, be used against you in court of law. You have the right to an attorney. If you cannot
afford one, one will be appointed to you,” has been heard so many times in television and film dramas that it has become almost cliché. The roots of the Miranda decision go back to March 2, 1963.