NAACP, AFL-CIO OPPOSE THOMAS NOMINATION

The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), the nation's largest civil-rights organization, Wednesday announced its opposition to the nomination of Clarence Thomas to become the second black justice in the history of the United States Supreme Court.The AFL-CIO, the nation's largest labor federation, also announced its opposition to Judge Thomas, charging President Bush with trying to pack the court with justices from "the far right wing." The NAACP lobbied hard for Bush to nominate a black to succeed Thurgood Marshall, but decided after studying his record that Thomas's "inconsistent views on civil rights policy make him an unpredictable element on an increasingly radically conservative court," says NAACP Chairman William Gibson.