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 fter
an investigation of charges leveled by former conservative writer
David Brock, the Senate Judiciary Committee — and later the
full Senate — yesterday unanimously approved the nomination
of Terry Wooten to become a U.S. district-court judge in South Carolina.
But the confirmation did not come without one last Democratic attempt
to replay the decade-old controversy over Supreme Court Justice
Clarence Thomas's nomination.
Wooten, a former
top aide on the Judiciary Committee, was nominated in August. On
August 24, shortly before Wooten's hearing before the committee,
Brock sent chairman Patrick Leahy a letter claiming that in the
early 1990s Wooten illegally gave out secret FBI files relating
to the Thomas confirmation battle. At that time, Brock was writing
a book that was highly critical of Anita Hill, the woman who accused
Thomas of sexual harassment. Brock, who later disavowed his own
work, said Wooten gave him secret FBI material on Angela Wright,
a woman who has said she was harassed by Thomas but did not testify
at Thomas's confirmation hearings.
At his own
hearing in late August, Wooten denied Brock's charge. "There
is not one scintilla or one iota of truth to that allegation,"
he told the committee. Leahy did not challenge Wooten's answers,
but on September 17, Leahy sent a letter to the Justice Department
requesting an FBI investigation of Brock's charges. "This is
a serious allegation," Leahy wrote, asking that the FBI interview
Brock and Wooten, along with "any other individuals as the
Bureau deems necessary." In the course of the investigation,
agents interviewed at least two other people, both of them associated
with The American Spectator magazine, which published Brock's
original story on the Thomas nomination.
The extent
of the FBI investigation is not clear, but yesterday, with little
comment, Leahy joined Republicans in supporting Wooten's nomination,
which passed the committee on a 19 to 0 vote. A few hours later,
the Senate approved Wooten 98 to 0.
But Wooten's
confirmation did not come without one final attempt to reargue the
Thomas nomination — and, in the process, delay the proceedings.
Wednesday, on the eve of the committee's scheduled vote, Illinois
Democrat Richard Durbin sent Wooten a list of 17 questions concerning
the Thomas confirmation. None of the questions related to David
Brock's charges (in fact, Brock's name was not mentioned at all).
Instead, Durbin's questions were based on the writings of Jane Mayer
and Jill Abramson, authors of Strange Justice, an account
of the Thomas confirmation that is overwhelmingly hostile to Thomas.
Among other
things, Durbin asked Wooten whether Wooten discussed the specifics
of Anita Hill's allegations with Senator Strom Thurmond, Wooten's
boss at the time. Durbin asked Wooten whether other Republicans
on the Senate Judiciary Committee knew about Hill's allegations
at an early point in the confirmation process. And Durbin asked
about a passage in Strange Justice in which Wooten was quoted
as saying of the Hill allegation, "Washington is the rumor
mill of the world. It didn't look like it was going to develop into
a big deal. There was an effort to control the damage." "Why
did you think Anita Hill's allegations were not going to develop
into a 'big deal'?" Durbin asked Wooten. "Did you believe
then and do you believe now that her allegations, if true, call
into question Justice Thomas's suitability to serve on the Supreme
Court?"
Not only did
Durbin's questions have nothing to do with Brock's accusations —
they also involved some issues which had not come up at all in Wooten's
confirmation hearing. And they seemed to suggest that a nominee's
opinion of Clarence Thomas is a litmus test for being confirmed
to the federal judiciary. Finally, they meant that Wooten would
have to spend more time answering questions. "It's a common
tactic," says one GOP aide. "You zap them with some questions
right before the hearing and then say, 'Whoops! We still have some
questions outstanding.'" All of which can lead to further delay.
But Wooten
sent back his answers on the same day he received the questions.
The next morning, Durbin voted to confirm Wooten.
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