The NPR Story behind HBO's 'Confirmation'

With an opening Saturday, the HBO film Confirmation is about the Senate hearings that ultimately put Clarence Thomas on the US Supreme Court in 1991. One witness was Anita Hill, a young lawyer who claimed that Thomas sexually harassed her when she worked for him at two federal agencies.

The Judiciary Committee was on the way to confirming Thomas until NPR's Supreme Court reporter, Nina Totenberg, noticed identical envelopes on each Senator's desk, and made a connection with Chairman Joe Biden's comment that evidence should not include what he called "rank gossip." She had heard rumors about Thomas…and she took it from there.