Poison in the Ear: The Supreme Court Confirmation Hearing of Justice Clarence Thomas

32 Pages Posted: 28 Sep 2018 Last revised: 1 Nov 2018

See all articles by Patrick Barry

Patrick Barry

University of Michigan Law School

Date Written: September 27, 2018

Abstract

When confronted with rival claims of the same event but denied any definitive way of choosing between them, when forced to decide who is lying and who is telling the truth but offered nothing by way of conclusive evidence—nothing by way of what Shakespeare’s Othello calls “ocular proof”— how, ultimately, do we decide what we decide? What explains, in other words, what we end up believing in situations where observable facts are absent and we must instead rely on, essentially, theatrical representations?

This paper explores theses questions through the lens of the newly relevant Supreme Court confirmation hearings of Justice Clarence Thomas and the classic Shakespearean tragedy that a prominent member of the Senate Judiciary Committee at the time, Senator Al Simpson of Wyoming, compared it to: Othello.

Keywords: sexual harassment, Othello, law and literature, rhetoric, confirmation hearing, Anita Hill

JEL Classification: K10

Suggested Citation

Barry, Patrick James, Poison in the Ear: The Supreme Court Confirmation Hearing of Justice Clarence Thomas (September 27, 2018). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3256786 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3256786

Patrick James Barry (Contact Author)

University of Michigan Law School ( email )

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Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1215
United States
734.763.2276 (Phone)

HOME PAGE: https://www.law.umich.edu/FacultyBio/Pages/FacultyBio.aspx?FacID=barrypj

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