Editing Joe Biden (section)

=== Senate Judiciary Committee ===
[[File:Biden Crime Bill.jpg|thumb|Biden speaking at the signing of the [[Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act|1994 Crime Bill]] with President [[Bill Clinton]].|alt=Photo of Senator Biden giving a speech, with uniformed law enforcement officers in the background]]

Biden was a longtime member of the [[United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary|Senate Committee on the Judiciary]]. He chaired it from 1987 to 1995 and was a [[ranking member|ranking minority member]] from 1981 to 1987 and again from 1995 to 1997.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Previous Committee Chairman |url=https://www.judiciary.senate.gov/about/chairman/previous |access-date=May 14, 2023 |publisher=United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary |archive-date=May 11, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230511035733/https://www.judiciary.senate.gov/about/chairman/previous |url-status=live}}</ref>

As chair, Biden presided over two highly contentious [[Supreme Court of the United States|U.S. Supreme Court]] confirmation hearings.<ref name="aap08-bio" /> When [[Robert Bork Supreme Court nomination|Robert Bork was nominated]] in 1988, Biden reversed his approval{{mdashb}}given in an interview the previous year{{mdashb}}of a hypothetical Bork nomination. Conservatives were angered,{{sfn|Bronner|1989|pp=138–139, 214, 305}} but at the hearings' close Biden was praised for his fairness, humor, and courage.{{sfn|Bronner|1989|pp=138–139, 214, 305}}<ref name="nyt-lg-87">{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1987/10/08/us/washington-talk-the-bork-hearings-for-biden-epoch-of-belief-epoch-of-incredulity.html |title=Washington Talk: The Bork Hearings; For Biden: Epoch of Belief, Epoch of Incredulity |last=Greenhouse |first=Linda |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=October 8, 1987 |author-link=Linda Greenhouse |access-date=January 24, 2021 |archive-date=January 11, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210111141909/https://www.nytimes.com/1987/10/08/us/washington-talk-the-bork-hearings-for-biden-epoch-of-belief-epoch-of-incredulity.html |url-status=live}}</ref> Rejecting the arguments of some Bork opponents,<ref name="aap08-bio" /> Biden framed his objections to Bork in terms of the conflict between Bork's strong [[originalism]] and the view that the [[Constitution of the United States|U.S. Constitution]] provides rights to liberty and privacy beyond those explicitly enumerated in its text.<ref name="nyt-lg-87" /> Bork's nomination was rejected in the committee by a 5–9 vote<ref name="nyt-lg-87" /> and then in the full Senate, 42–58.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1987/10/24/us/senate-s-roll-call-on-the-bork-vote.html|title=Senate's Roll-Call On the Bork Vote|date=October 24, 1987|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|agency=[[Associated Press]]|access-date=January 24, 2021|archive-date=January 3, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210103084644/https://www.nytimes.com/1987/10/24/us/senate-s-roll-call-on-the-bork-vote.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

During [[Clarence Thomas Supreme Court nomination|Clarence Thomas's nomination hearings]] in 1991, Biden's questions on constitutional issues were often convoluted to the point that Thomas sometimes lost track of them,{{sfn|Mayer|Abramson|1994|pp=213, 218, 336}} and Thomas later wrote that Biden's questions were akin to "[[beanball]]s".<ref>{{cite news |title=Clarence Thomas: A Silent Justice Speaks Out: Part VI: Becoming a Judge—and perhaps a Justice |last=Greenburg |first=Jan Crawford |agency=[[ABC News (United States)|ABC News]] |date=September 30, 2007 |url=https://www.abcnews.go.com/TheLaw/Story?id=3664944&page=4 |access-date=October 18, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110622121644/https://abcnews.go.com/TheLaw/Story?id=3664944&page=4 |archive-date=June 22, 2011 |url-status=dead}}</ref> After the committee hearing closed, the public learned that [[Anita Hill]] had accused Thomas of [[Sexual harassment|making unwelcome sexual comments]] when they had worked together.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=2101289|title=Nina Totenberg, NPR Biography|access-date=May 31, 2008|publisher=[[NPR]]|archive-date=April 14, 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080414042451/https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=2101289|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Excerpt from Nina Totenberg's breaking National Public Radio report on Anita Hill's accusation of sexual harassment by Clarence Thomas.|url=https://jwa.org/feminism/_html/_transcripts/transcript_JWA071a.htm|access-date=October 5, 2008|date=October 6, 1991|publisher=[[NPR]]|archive-date=February 21, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090221202700/https://jwa.org/feminism/_html/_transcripts/transcript_JWA071a.htm|url-status=live}}</ref> Biden had known of some of these charges, but initially shared them only with the committee because Hill was then unwilling to testify.<ref name="aap08-bio" /> The committee hearing was reopened and Hill testified, but Biden did not permit testimony from other witnesses, such as a woman who had made similar charges and experts on harassment.<ref name="nyt-hill">{{cite news |url=https://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/08/23/biden-and-anita-hill-revisited/ |title=Biden and Anita Hill, Revisited |last=Phillips |first=Kate |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=August 23, 2008 |access-date=September 12, 2008 |archive-date=September 11, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080911204456/https://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/08/23/biden-and-anita-hill-revisited/ |url-status=live}}</ref> The full Senate confirmed Thomas by a 52–48 vote, with Biden opposed.<ref name="aap08-bio" /> Liberal legal advocates and women's groups felt strongly that Biden had mishandled the hearings and not done enough to support Hill.<ref name="nyt-hill" /> In 2019, he told Hill he regretted his treatment of her, but Hill said afterward she remained unsatisfied.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/25/us/politics/joe-biden-anita-hill.html|title=Joe Biden Expresses Regret to Anita Hill, but She Says 'I'm Sorry' Is Not Enough|last1=Stolberg|first1=Sheryl Gay|date=April 25, 2019|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|access-date=April 25, 2019|last2=Martin|first2=Jonathan|issn=0362-4331|archive-date=April 25, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190425205328/https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/25/us/politics/joe-biden-anita-hill.html|url-status=live}}</ref>