Trying to save her name; Charles Ogletree, a Harvard law professor and one of Hill's lawyers, said Hill wanted to take the test to refute the attacks made on her motives and integrity by Republican senators Saturday.; However, the significance of polygraph tests is limited. They are not admitted as evidence in most courtrooms because the scientific community believes they are insufficiently reliable and judges believe juries give them too much weight.; The danger of polygraph tests is that "some people are able to fool lie detectors because they believe what they're saying, even though it isn't true," Georgetown University criminal law professor Paul Rothstein said.; What Hill was asked; Minor, a well known polygraph expert who has taught FBI polygraph operators, said he put four questions to Hill:; (check) Have you deliberately lied to me about Clarence Thomas?; (check) Are you fabricating the allegation that Clarence Thomas discussed pornographic material with you?; (check) Are you lying to me about the various topics that Clarence Thomas mentioned to you regarding specific sexual acts?; (check) Are you lying to me about Clarence Thomas making references to you about the size of his penis?; She answered "no" to each question. "There was no indication of deception to any of the relevant questions," Minor said outside the hearing room. "It's therefore my opinion Ms. Hill is truthful."; Sen. Howard Metzenbaum asked that Hill's polygraph results be placed in the committee record, but chairman Joseph Biden, D-Del., refused, noting that courts did not accept such evidence and that the test had been produced outside committee control.; Nevertheless, Rothstein said, "polygraphs are 60 to 80 percent reliable, depending upon whom you ask," and Peter Tague, also a Georgetown criminal law specialist, said that "Prof. Hill's willingness to take a polygraph test tends to support her credibility."; The devices purport to detect untruthful answers by measuring changes in blood pressure, pulse rate and perspiration.; While he is considered to be a prominent expert in his field, Minor's reputation is not without controversy.; In July 1980, Minor, who was then with the FBI, administered two polygraph tests to Herman Sillas, then the U.S. attorney in Sacramento, to determine the veracity of allegations that he had taken a $7,500 bribe from a prison inmate several years earlier. The test was later determined to have been improperly administered.; Minor could not be reached for comment Sunday.
Professor Anita Hill, who accused Clarence Thomas of sexual harassment and so testified during the confirmation hearings, took a lie detector test Sunday. Because her testimony had been challenged, she asked for a polygraph test and according to the man who administered the tests, she answered all questions honestly. The Chairman of the Committee refused to allow the polygraph results to be placed into the record, saying that courts do not accept polygraph evidence and that the testing was done outside committee control. The man who gave the test was a recognized expert but on an earlier occasion he had been accused of improperly administering a test.