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Opinion: Sotomayor hearings: A Joe Biden connection to the committee proceedings

By Timothy M. Phelpswriter 
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Television viewers might have been wondering about the blond woman who sat behind Sonia Sotomayor during the confirmation hearings. She has been there every day, trying hard to look impassive and -- near the end of the day -- to keep her eyes fully open. She’s Cynthia Hogan, the top lawyer to Vice President Joe Biden and the person responsible for shepherding Sotomayor through Congress.

She has plenty of experience, having gone to work for Biden as a young lawyer for the Judiciary Committee in 1991, just as Clarence Thomas was nominated to the Supreme Court.

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Hogan played an important behind-the-scenes role in the Anita Hill affair, particularly in privately questioning Angela Wright, who was initially prepared to testify that she had also been sexually harassed by Thomas at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission but backed out at the last minute. Had Wright testified, Thomas might not be on the court today.

-- Timothy M. Phelps

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Timothy M. Phelps

Timothy M. Phelps covered the Justice Department and legal affairs in Washington, D.C. He was a reporter and editor for the Providence Journal, St. Petersburg Times, Baltimore Sun, New York Times and Newsday before joining the L.A. Times Washington Bureau as an editor in 2007. He was a foreign correspondent in the Middle East in the 1970s and the 1990s. Phelps covered the Supreme Court and Justice Department for Newsday in the 1990s, breaking the story of Anita Hill’s sexual harassment allegations against Clarence Thomas. He is co-author of a book about the nomination, “Capitol Games.” He left The Times in 2015.

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