In 1998 Rupert Murdoch ordered Fox Television to abandon its planned production of "Strange Justice," a drama based on the book of that title by the New York Times Jill Abramson and the New Yorker's Jane Mayer about the confirmation of conservative Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. (It was subsequently produced and shown by Showtime.) According to a New York Times report, Murdoch told an associate that Thomas was a friend of his and that he had been railroaded during his confirmation hearing.