(born 1948) Conservative African American jurist. His 1991 nomination to the Supreme Court by President George Bush to replace liberal activist Thurgood Marshall provoked even more controversy when a former associate, law professor Anita Hill, accused him of sexual harassment. The ensuing televised hearings riveted and divided America around issues of race and gender—while Thomas’ supporters evoked the specter of a “high-tech lynching,” others were repelled not only by the charges but by the interrogations of a white, male Senate panel. Thomas was narrowly confirmed, and has taken a conservative albeit low-key stance in the Court. Issues and reflections surrounding these hearings are reviewed in Toni Morrison’s Race-ing Justice, En-Gendering Power (1992)