Surer Than Ever About Thomas, Bush Says

President Bush said Friday that he is more convinced than ever that Judge Clarence Thomas is the right choice for the Supreme Court despite widespread opposition to the nomination, which comes before Congress next week.

The Senate Judiciary Committee opens confirmation hearings Tuesday on the selection of Thomas, a black conservative whom Bush nominated to succeed retiring liberal Thurgood Marshall. Marshall is the first black to sit on the high court.

Thomas’ conservative views have stirred opposition from many liberals who fear that his selection will give the court an unbeatable conservative majority as it considers civil rights cases and challenges to abortion-rights rulings.

“I am more convinced than ever that I have appointed the right man for the Supreme Court,” Bush said in an address to the National Assn. of Towns and Townships.

“I expect and hope that he will be confirmed,” said Bush, who met with Thomas in the Oval Office earlier Friday.

Bush cited Thomas’ small-town origins, saying: “Think of the ideals of integrity, hard work and caring for others instilled in a boy growing up in Pin Point, Ga. Today, that man stands ready to serve on the highest court in this land. Clarence Thomas embodies the virtues (that) America and all her towns and townships hold dear.”

But Kate Michelman of the National Abortion Rights Action League said her group has distributed 400,000 postcards around the country, to be mailed by supporters of abortion rights, that urge senators to vote against Thomas.

And, in New York, the National Council of Churches, representing Protestant and Orthodox denominations with nearly 42 million members, said Friday that it opposed the Thomas nomination.

In a statement, the council cited Thomas’ conservative stands on civil rights and affirmative action programs as major reasons for its decision.

It was only the third time since 1950 that the council has opposed a Supreme Court nominee. It opposed President Richard M. Nixon’s nomination of G. Harrold Carswell to the court in 1970 and President Ronald Reagan’s nomination of Robert H. Bork in 1987. Both men failed to win Senate approval.