CONFIRMATION PROCESS TOPPLES INTO THE GUTTER

The work of the United States Senate in handling the nomination of Clarence Thomas to the Supreme Court is a national scandal. Members of the Senate Judiciary Committee, entrusted with ~enlightening colleagues in the upper chamber of Congress about qualifications of court appointees, have instead painted a shocking portrait of deceit, inequity and political hardball. It has nothing to do with justice. It has nothing to do with what America was intended to be. We are all stained by this travesty.

Clarence Thomas suggests that, regardless of the outcome of his confirmation vote, we should not feel sorry for him. If not elevated to the Supreme Court, the nominee points out, he will return to his previous way of life, secure with his family, his friends and a challenging judicial career. Yet we do feel sorry for him. Most of the reporters covering this story feel sorry for themselves if they lose an hour's worth of writing through a computer glitch; here's a man who's lost more than four decades of accomplishments, a lifetime of exemplary public service, because there is no bottom to the depths to which his opponents will stoop.

Put yourself in his position. Think of having to prove your innocence to an infraction no one is even sure occurred. Think of having your integrity questioned in front of the nation. Think of having your private parts be a topic of discussion on all major television networks. Think of having your character publicly impugned for eight hours by one person who can't substantiate her claims.

At this newspaper and most newspapers, no one person can walk in with scurrilous charges about a public official and expect the story to see print without considerable corroboration of the facts. Yet, Thomas has suffered the allegations of a single accuser not just in one newspaper, but in the media nationwide and with the cooperation of the U.S. Senate.

Members of both political parties on the Judiciary Committee concede that a senator or Senate staff member leaked confidential documents to the news media relating to Anita Hill's accusations about the nominee. It was a calculated maneuver in the days before Thomas faced certain confirmation in the Senate. Hill's unsupported charges exceed by nearly a decade the statute of limitations on sexual harassment complaints. Yet, in this confirmation circumstance, the smear is enough. As Thomas acknowledged and perhaps was too slow to realize, the forces opposing him will stop at nothing.

The nominee compared the maneuver to McCarthyism. Given all we've seen flash before us on television screens since Friday, it might be a generous assessment.

Some in the Senate have kept their dignity intact. We are proud of Missourian John Danforth for his unwavering loyalty to Thomas and his willingness to return fire at the forces looking to wreck this nomination, and savage a man's career, at all costs. We only wish President Bush would be as courageous in his support.

The Supreme Court of the United States is supposed to be the highest authority for which truth, justice and fairness can be sustained in this nation. The confirmation process that fills that court should not set its standards lower than those grand expectations. That is not the case. We feel sorry for the nation if it has come to this.