"Roe’s fate seemed even bleaker when two of the Court’s most liberal Justices, William Brennan and Thurgood Marshall, left the Court due to failing health. Brennan resigned on July 20, 1990, and was replaced by David Souter, a bookish jurist from New Hampshire about whom little was known when he was nominated. President George H.W. Bush, attempting to avoid a replay of the Bork nomination, hoped that Souter would be able to avoid a politically difficult confirmation battle. Thurgood Marshall, the great civil rights lawyer who had argued Brown v. Board of Education, announced his retirement on June 27, 1991. To replace him, President Bush nominated Clarence Thomas, a conservative African American judge on the D.C. Circuit. Thomas was widely believed to be hostile to Roe v. Wade but stated at his confirmation hearings that he had never debated it and had no personal opinion on the subject. The Thomas nomination was bitterly contested by senators who doubted Thomas’s qualifications and his commitment to civil rights and civil liberties, including the right to abortion. Matters were thrown into an uproad when Thomas was accused of sexual harassment by a former employee at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), Anita Hill. After weeks of controversy, Thomas was finally confirmed by a 52-48 vote, the narrowest margin in Supreme Court history."