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Clarence Thomas Settles Scores

Book lashes out at media, liberal elites

By Jane Yager, Newser Staff

Posted Sep 29, 2007 9:06 AM CDT

(Newser) – In a scathing new memoir, Justice Clarence Thomas unleashes his wrath upon those who afflicted him during his 1991 Senate confirmation hearings, calling them a "high-tech lynching" by "left-wing zealots draped in flowing sanctimony." The book, My Grandfather's Son, chronicles the Supreme Court justice's life from his childhood to his swearing-in, the Washington Post reports.

In the book, Thomas speaks at length for the first time about his bruising hearings, dismissing the "touchy" and "mediocre" Anita Hill as the pawn of a mob of abortion-crazed activists. He describes himself as perennially under siege— from light-skinned African Americans, white liberal elites, and others who fault his opposition to affirmative action. He reports considering suicide during a marital crisis, and concluding that he couldn't abandon his son, as his father had abandoned him.

Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, Clarence Thomas speaks during a presentation on Monday, Sept. 10, 2007, at Marshall University in Huntington, W.Va. Despite taking its name from a former justice... (Associated Press)

Associate Justice Clarence Thomas is photographed at the Supreme Court in Washington March 3, 2006. Breaking his 16-year public silence on his bitter confirmation hearings, Thomas says Anita Hill was... (Associated Press)

Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court Clarence Thomas speaks at Marshall University in Huntington, W.Va., in this Sept. 10, 2007, file photo. Breaking his 16-year public silence on his bitter confirmation... (Associated Press)

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Clarence Thomas Settles Scores

Book lashes out at media, liberal elites

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Thomas Is Guilty; Anita Hill Is Owed an Apology

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But Hill thinks it's a prank, calls cops

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Lawyers deserve a chance to talk, he argues

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