Clarence Thomas' wife asks Anita Hill for apology

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- Years after the controversy over her husband's appointment to the Supreme Court, the wife of Justice Clarence Thomas has called to ask his accuser for an apology. Virginia Thomas says she was just offering an olive branch but Anita Hill certainly didn't take it that way. She called the police.

It was 7:30 a.m. on Saturday, Oct. 9 when Justice Clarence Thomas' wife called Anita Hill and left a message saying, "Good morning, Anita Hill, it's Ginni Thomas. I just wanted to reach across the airwaves and the years and ask you to consider something. I would love you to consider an apology sometime and some full explanation of why you did what you did with my husband. So give it some thought and certainly pray about this and come to understand why you did what you did. OK, have a good day."

What Hill did in 1991 was to testify at Thomas' confirmation hearing, telling senators that Thomas had sexually harassed her when she was working for him.

She said he described pornographic movies he had seen and bragged about his sexual prowess.

The testimony rocked the confirmation hearings, but Thomas was confirmed.

In 2007, Virginia Thomas told ABC News, "I hope she one day calls up and apologizes and I look forward to forgiving her."

Ten days ago Thomas apparently decided to prompt Hill with the phone call.

Tuesday morning Hill sent ABC7 an e-mail saying she had filed a report about the voice mail message with Brandeis University police who would be forwarding it to the FBI.

Thomas confirmed the call, admitting she had placed the call to Hill. Thomas said in an e-mail, "I did place a call to Ms. Hill at her office extending an olive branch to her after all these years in hopes that we could ultimately get past what happened so long ago. Certainly no offense was ever intended."

She made no mention of asking for an apology.

When Hill heard that explanation she told ABC7, "I have been clear for 19 years about what happened. I'm not going to apologize for telling the truth."

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supreme court, national/world, mark matthews

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