Sides gird for Thomas nomination fight

WASHINGTON A tough battle is brewing over President Bush's choiceof conservative judge Clarence Thomas to be the second black SupremeCourt justice in the court's 202-year history.

The fray appears to be dividing the nation's blacks. Severalleadership groups, notably the NAACP, have declared opposition to thenomination, but many other blacks appear to favor it.

The Senate Judiciary Committee is due to start its confirmationhearings in about a month.

Bush nominated Thomas, 43, a federal appeals court judge, onJuly 1 to succeed black liberal Thurgood Marshall, who announced hewould retire when the Senate confirms a successor for him on thenine-judge high court.

White House and congressional sources say that, while thenomination will spark fierce debate and some loud opposition in theDemocratic-controlled Senate, they expect him to be confirmed by morethan the necessary 51-vote majority.

It appears that some key middle-road Democrats who have opposedsome nominations in the past are in Bush's corner this time and thatthe Thomas nomination, while very controversial, does not arousequite as much passionate opposition as that of Robert H. Bork in1987.

The Senate alone acts on judicial appointments.

Leading the opposition are liberal groups and the highlyinfluential NAACP, the largest and oldest of the country's blackadvocacy organizations.

The NAACP, which came out against the nomination July 31,accused Thomas in particular of "reactionary" views in opposingaffirmative action laws to help more blacks get into college and intojobs.

It also denounced his record as chairman of the U.S. EqualEmployment Opportunity Commission for eight years in the 1980s.

Supporters of Thomas, and even some of his detractors, give himmuch credit for rising from the poverty of his youth in Pin Point,Ga., to graduate from Yale Law School and obtain high governmentposts.

NAACP Executive Director Benjamin Hooks acknowledged the dilemmafacing the organization, telling reporters it was a difficultdecision for the board of directors.

"No question we wanted to see an African-American on the court,"Hooks said.

The board's chairman, William Gibson, said, "In the finalanalysis, Judge Clarence Thomas' judicial philosophy is simplyinconsistent with the historical position taken by the NAACP."

Despite this stand from the mainstream black group, however,others in the black community say Thomas would bring a perspective tothe all-white court that a white conservative - who could benominated if Thomas were defeated - would not carry to the nation'scourt of last resort.

An example of the national division can be seen in the positiontaken by National Urban League, another major black-dominated civilrights organization that decided not to take a stand on Thomas.

In addition, a USA Today poll among blacks in July showed 54percent approved the Thomas nomination, while 17 percent disapprovedand 29 percent said they did not know. However, since the poll wastaken before the NAACP announced its opposition to the nomination,there could be some erosion of support for Thomas among blackswilling to follow the lead of the civil rights group.

While the 25 Democratic members of the Congressional BlackCaucus opposed Thomas, the lone black Republican member of Congress,Republican Gary Franks of Connecticut, endorsed him.

A number of prominent white-led liberal groups have announcedtheir opposition to Thomas, arguing that his thinking was outside themainstream of judicial thought.

The AFL-CIO, the nation's largest alliance of labor unions,followed the NAACP's lead when its leadership came out againstThomas.

Lane Kirkland, president of the 14.1-million-member AFL-CIO,said, "As with the nomination of Robert Bork, the president's resolveto make the court the preserve of the far-right wing leaves us noother choice but to oppose Judge Thomas."