As chair, Biden presided over two highly contentious U.S. Supreme Court confirmation hearings.[21] When Robert Bork was nominated in 1988, Biden reversed his approval‍—‌given in an interview the previous year‍—‌of a hypothetical Bork nomination. Conservatives were angered,[117] but at the hearings' close Biden was praised for his fairness, humor, and courage.[117][118] Rejecting the arguments of some Bork opponents,[21] Biden framed his objections to Bork in terms of the conflict between Bork's strong originalism and the view that the U.S. Constitution provides rights to liberty and privacy beyond those explicitly enumerated in its text.[118] Bork's nomination was rejected in the committee by a 9–5 vote[118] and then in the full Senate, 58–42.[119]
During 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,[120] and Thomas later wrote that Biden's questions were akin to "beanballs".[121] After the committee hearing closed, the public learned that Anita Hill, a University of Oklahoma law school professor, had accused Thomas of making unwelcome sexual comments when they had worked together.