After Clarence Thomas won confirmation to the Supreme Court by a slim 52-48 vote, Utah's two senators wondered if the rancorous fight that concluded had permanently damaged future confirmations.
"I'm afraid all you will get as future nominees are milquetoast," said Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah. "It will be tough for anybody who takes tough stands on issues or stands up for what he believes. They will tear him to shreds."Equally pessimistic was Sen. Jake Garn, R-Utah. "Do we discourage really good people . . . from not serving because they say, `Hey, I'm not going to put up with that type of harassment. I'm not going to have my family and me smeared because somebody doesn't like the way I think.' "
Since his nomination, Thomas has overcome allegations of sexual harassment, drug abuse, "confirmation conversion" and even wife beating to become the second black in history to be confirmed. It came on the closest vote a successful court nominee has had since 1888 - 52-48.
Eleven Democrats - mostly from Thomas' native South - crossed party lines to support Thomas. Also, 41 of the Senate's 43 Republicans voted for Thomas - all but Sen. James Jeffords of Vermont and Bob Packwood of Oregon.
Only three Democratic senators who had earlier announced they would vote for Thomas ended up switching after University of Oklahoma law professor Anita Hill said Thomas sexually harassed her when she was his aide. They were Harry Reid and Richard Bryan of Nevada and Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut.
The outcome was in doubt to the last minute. After the clerk passed through the Senate the first time, only 50 senators had voted for Thomas. He managed to pick up two more votes - and a needed majority - among the handful of senators who had skipped voting on their first opportunity.
Vice President Dan Quayle cut short a political trip to Ohio to return to the Senate in case his tie-breaking vote was needed.
Hatch, a leading defender of Thomas, was disappointed at the close margin. "I'm disappointed so many Democrats voted against the second black nominee in the history of this country," he said.
Some speculated the close margin could affect Thomas' performance on the court. But Garn said, "I don't think the close vote means anything. If that were the case, there are a lot of senators who have won 50.2 to 49.8 percent, and they never talk about that. The fact of the matter was he was confirmed."
Garn also complained several senators had told him they planned to vote for Thomas but changed their minds at the last second because "they want to be on what they consider the politically correct side - as long as it was going to pass. Unfortunately, that's not unusual in this body. It's known as a freebie."
Once the vote was in, cheers erupted in the Senate gallery - as Thomas supporters celebrated in the hall, embracing members who had voted for him as they left the chamber.
President Bush called Thomas on the phone shortly afterward and told him, "You're a wonderful inspiration and you had the overwhelming support of the American people. You have a lifetime of service to your country ahead. Well done," according to press secretary Marlin Fitzwater.
Thomas later told reporters standing in the rain outside his suburban Virginia home, "This is more a time for healing, not a time for anger or for animus or animosity." He thanked his supporters as well as America and God. Court officials said he could be sworn in as early as Monday.
Meanwhile, Hill told reporters in Oklahoma that she was satisfied she had been "able to go out and tell what I knew (to be) true." She added, "What I hope is that none of this will deter others from coming forward. This is an important issue, and the dialogue will not stop here."
The bitter debate over Thomas lasted up to the vote at 4 p.m. MDT Tuesday.
Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., attacked him saying, "If we make a mistake today, the Supreme Court will be living with it and the nation will be living with it for the next 30 to 40 years."
He added, "That is too high a price to pay. . . . To give the benefit of the doubt to Judge Thomas is to say that Judge Thomas is more important than the Supreme Court."
Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., said Hill had no motive to lie about her allegations, but Thomas had plenty of motive to obtain his confirmation. Leahy added that men accused of sexual harassment almost always deny it or claim the woman is crazy. Thomas, he said, did both.
Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell, D-Maine, added, "The hearing revealed the nominee will say anything to be confirmed. It worked."
Mitchell also charged that President Bush has created abortion as a litmus test for his nominees. "The right of choice was lost when George Bush was elected president."
But Thomas' main Senate champion and former boss, John Danforth, R-Mo., decried what he called a system of "search and destroy" against Thomas by his critics at all costs.
"Clarence Thomas can survive without confirmation by the U.S. Senate, but if we vote against Clarence Thomas, we reward a system that is clearly wrong," Danforth said. "Our values as Americans cannot long survive the process we have seen in the last 10 days."
About the recent attacks - some of which he feels were fabricated and orchestrated - Garn added, "There's something terribly wrong with that kind of dishonesty. There's nothing wrong with the process. It's the people who are abusing the process. I don't know how you change it."
Hatch blamed problems on outside special interest groups that disliked Thomas. "Some of them are absolutely vicious. They're dishonest. They don't do what's right. They believe that the end justifies the means. And they don't care who gets hurt in the process."