It’s been under the radar for the most part, but an upcoming docudrama on HBO is going to blow the lid off the Capitol Dome this coming Spring, unintentionally timed, as it is for release in mid April, just as the Senate will be forced to confront what was only a few weeks ago unthinkable: another Obama Supreme Court nomination as the current, already-off-the-charts election season is fully underway.
The film is “Confirmation,” a dramatic retelling of the Clarence Thomas Supreme Court nomination hearings before the Senate Judiciary Committee chaired by then-Senator Joe Biden. The synchronicities surrounding this made-for-TV movie, its timing, and the personalities both from the infamous ‘91 hearings and the current cast of political players in Washington DC will provide a surreal backstop to the contemporaneous vortex of news cycles that will be juxtaposed to it.
The screenplay for Confirmation was crafted by Susannah Grant, the film’s Producer who also wrote the screenplay for Erin Brockovich. Both films relate the story of a brave and principled woman standing up against huge institutional forces intent on crushing her. The Brockovich story ends well, with Erin scoring a major victory against the unconscionable pollution practices of CA utility, PG&E; Anita Hill’s saga, on the other hand, ends with the man who sexually harrassed her, Clarence Thomas, ascending to one of the most powerful and unassailable positions in the world — and with her reputation assaulted eggregiously by, among many others, Thomas himself.
Kerry Washington, who plays Hill in the film, says that she met with Hill to help herself get into the character, and that she was inspired by her.
One more note about the supposition that the script for this film isn’t GOP-friendly: Kerry Washington is the Lead.
“Under The Radar, For the Most Part”
While I’m not privy to the script (there’s not even a synopsis available yet), some folks who have seen the script are pretty agitated, those folks being the defenders of Thomas who smeared Hill in the hearings: Alan Simpson (of Catfood Commission fame), Jack Danforth (for whom Thomas was a Senate aide), and Thomas’ lawyer at the time, Mark Paoletta. They’re monumentally pissed and they threatened to sue just a few days ago if the version of Grant’s script that they were provided (when the producers were looking for pre-production input) is used. Whether their threats of legal action were prompted in any way by the upcoming SCOTUS brouhaha I have no idea (although it must be noted that their collective umbrage did suddenly find public expression — after many months of silent gestation, it must be assumed — just 5 days after Scalia’s death), but it’s certain that this film, given the “serendipitous” timing of its release (April 16), will rile more than just a few aging sexists in the GOP old-horse pasture.
As a side note, it’s interesting to speculate whether Joe Biden’s choice not to enter the Dem POTUS primary was in any way influcenced by the advent of this film. He was certainly also asked for script input prior to shooting, and his role in the story was one of enablement of Thomas’ supporters, in that he scuttled the testimony of corroborating witnesses in support of Anita Hill.
The Upshot:
Thomas is the person the the High Court bench who was closest to Scalia (he gave a scriptural reading at Scalia’s funeral), and most dependent on him (he said Scalia took him under his wing when he came on board), whose now-open seat has become the likely focus of the upcoming Presidential Primary and General Election year. It will be very interesting to see who Obama nominates for the post, and how that might play out, juxtaposed with the buzz from the Confirmation story as it re-enters the collective American psyche.
I hope Obama nominates another female for this vacant SCOTUS seat. It’s been almost a century since women were given the right to vote and the court is still 2/3 male. It would enhance his legacy, make gender equality in the nation one step closer to reality, and give the court much needed female perspective, especially since Justice Ginsberg can’t be far from finishing her long, glorious stint. And, with the Thomas/Hill story having entered into the Zeitgeist via Confirmation, it would bring into sharp focus the fractious, toxic and corrosive nature of the Conservative movement in America.
And finally, the question inevitably presents itself: what about Anita Hill herself? Now that would be ground shaking. But I doubt seriously she’d want to sit in the same room with Thomas for the rest of his life.