European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - July 3, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse Wednesday july 3, 1991 the stars and stripes b Page 13 Linda greenhouse Clarence Thomas who at age 43 is barely half the age of the Man whose supreme court seat he was named monday to fill came of age in the world that Thurgood Marshall helped create. Now fhe question is to what extent if he is confirmed Thomas would add Wei tit to the courts new majority that appears willing even eager to dismantle parts of the legacy that Marshall helped to build. Although not much is known a about Thomas views on most issues Likely to come before the court he has made Clear his opposition to affirmative action and to policies that can be viewed As incorporating quotas or racial preferences. In his year As a Federal appeals court judge he has not had occasion to Rule on affirmative action but he has Long been outspoken in taking the position that government programs for affirmative action Are not Only unwise but also unconstitutional. But in other respects this nomination is very much a wild card both for conservatives who jumped instantly to embrace it and for liberals whose responses ranged from cautious to hostile. His views on other major issues before the court including abortion Church state relations and the definition of constitutional due process Are unknown and May Well remain so through a confirmation process that May be contentious but that in the end is not Likely to derail the nomination. Thomas attended roman Catholic schools through College and studied for the Priesthood in two seminaries. Although the Catholic Church vigorously opposes abortion Thomas has apparently never taken a Public position on abortion or on the dimensions of the constitutional right to privacy on which the right to abortion is based. His position on affirmative action is probably sufficient to shift the courts direction since the court remains closely divided. In its most recent affirmative action decision a year ago the court split 5 to 4 in upholding a Federal communications commission policy that gives preference to Blacks and members of other minorities in acquiring some radio and television licenses. Justice William j. Brennanjr. Wrote that decision a few weeks before he retired. Marshall joined it. The views of Justice David h. Souter Brennan a successor remain largely unknown because the court did not have an affirmative action Case in the term that just r. Mears off and running Thomas views on the other major issues remain unknown although the 1990 confirmation hearing for his seat on the . Circuit court of appeals for the District of Columbia was widely viewed As a rehearsal for an eventual supreme court nomination. Some democratic senators said at the time and again monday that their votes to confirm him for the appeals court should not be taken As endorsements for the supreme court. Leaders of abortion rights groups said monday that they would press the Senate to deny confirmation commentary is a wild card to Thomas unless he expresses his support for the supreme courts abortion precedents including continued adherence to Roe is. Wade the 1973 ruling that established the constitutional right to abortion. A the Souter Model of silence and evasion that we saw last year is absolutely unacceptable a said Kate Michelman executive director of tie National abortion rights action league. But the judiciary committee includes some of the most conservative democrats in the Senate As Well several combative Republican conservatives. If Thomas maintains his silence his nomination is unlikely to founder on the abortion Issue alone particularly if there is no other source of concerted opposition. Civil rights groups took a cautious tone monday essentially noting a a concerns and saying they would study the record. A we urge the Senate not to Rush to judgment a said a statement from a leadership conference on civil rights an umbrella group of 185 organizations that took an Early and leading role in the defeat of the Bork nomination. Julius l. Chambers director of the Naaf Legal defense and educational fund inc., which Marshall once led said the fact that Thomas a is an african american should not be a basis for avoiding very careful scrutiny of his civil rights it was evident from these responses that Bush a Choice was a disarming one. Introducing his nominee to the country at a televised news conference on monday afternoon the president Drew on the powerful Appeal of Thomas life Story As a self made Success. The political pluses to this nomination were obvious. A judge Thomas life is a Model for All americans a Bush said. At his Side stood a 43-year-old Black Man who was 5 years old when Marshall won his supreme court argument in Brown is. Board of education and who was a College freshman when Marshall joined the supreme court. That was a generation ago when the court was still in the midst of rewriting the ground rules by which americans were to live. Well before Bush presented Thomas to the country monday it was Clear that that chapter in the courts history is largely closed and that a new Page was about to be turned. After mondays nomination some but by no Means All of the Blanks on that Page have been filled in. C the new York times Thomas selection gives Bush critics a problem politically president Bush has put his critics in a Corner by nominating a conservative Black appeals court judge to succeed Thurgood Marshall on the supreme court. Keeping the opposition cornered is another matter. Senate liberals and civil rights activists will try to mobilize against Clarence Thomas 43, whose confirmation would help Cement the conservative court majority far into the 21st Century. Bush claimed that neither race nor ideology prompted his Choice of Thomas on monday. But the race Factor certainly will make it More difficult for democrats to take on Thomas. A Only in America could this have been possible a said Thomas standing at the presidents Side in Kennebunkport Maine. At the same time the ideological Factor guarantees that Liberal democrats will Challenge his confirmation. In part the opposition will come from Black figures speaking for civil rights remedies Thomas has rejected in the past As an opponent of affirmative action measures that he said involved Job quotas. Yet Thomas is a nominee the democratic Senate spurn without creating an Issue that probably would serve Republican interests in the 1992 presidential Campaign. Bush insisted there was no racial quota involved in his selection of a Black nominee to succeed the first Black Justice on the supreme court. He said Thomas was the Best Man a and the fact that he is Black and a minority had nothing to do with but a key Senate ally was Quick to Point out the problem Thomas race will pose for his critics. A anybody who takes him on in the area of civil rights is taking on the grandson of a sharecropper a said sen. Orrin Hatch a Utah. But Thomas has been taken on before on just those grounds in the same Senate judiciary committee that will consider his nomination to the supreme court. Thomas faced critical questioning on his civil rights views before he was confirmed to serve on the court of appeals 17 months ago. As Ronald Reagan a chairman of the equal employment Opportunity commission he had so Tive action and promotion quotas goals and timetables. Thomas told the Senate committee that he was sensitive to discrimination issues. He said monday that As a child he dare dream that he would see the supreme court let alone serve on it. Thomas said he Hopes a to be an example to those who Are where i was and to show them that indeed there is again race is a Factor but Thomas also said he does no to believe he is there had spoken against affirm plans he said involved hiring because of it. To critics who say that is Why he was picked Thomas said he could Only counter that he has heard worse. A a in la have to live with it a he said. Bush also said he Wasny to trying to Cement the conservative majority on the court with the Thomas appointment. A a we re not trying to put a philosophical balance on this court a the president said. A a we re not trying to philosophically affect the opposition wont believe that either. Nor do All republicans. A i would expect the president to do no More than what Franklin Delano Roosevelt did a sen. Charles e. Grassley a Iowa said in a can interview sunday. A the had a mandate in the 1930s, As Reagan and Bush have had a mandate during the 1980s, that they were going to put people who believed in judicial restraint on the supreme Bush said he wants judges who will interpret the Constitution and not legislate from the Bench but does no to know whether Thomas agrees or differs with the administrations View on issues Likely to come before the court. One Point on which they clearly do agree is hiring quotas. Thomas said he Hasni to ruled on affirmative action issues As a judge but spoke out against them before he became one. Bush has threatened to veto civil rights legislation for a second time on grounds that it would Lead to the use of racial quotas in employment. But Bush said he did not ask Thomas about specific issues just As he avoided such questions before nominating David h. Souter to the supreme court in 1990. Indeed the president said some of the people considered for this vacancy probably disagree with his opposition to abortion. A i done to know i did no task a Bush said. The Senate will. After Marshall announced his retirement some democrats said they would not tolerate again the silence they got from Souter on the abortion question. But they Are not Likely to get a yes or no from Thomas either. And that once again will reopen the argument Over the Senate role on court nominations. It seems to hinge on who is in the White House. When Lyndon b. Johnson named Marshall to the court in 1967, democratic leaders said the Senate should weigh qualifications not positions. Sen. Edward m. Kennedy d-mass., said then that senators should judge confirmation on the basis of background temperament and integrity not whether a nominees views coincided with their own. That a the Republican argument now. The associated press
