Partisan wars over high court nominations are hardly new. But the battles became more pitched after the 1987 effort that derailed the Supreme Court nomination of Robert Bork, a conservative icon.
The Bork fight was followed four years later by a drive by liberal and women's advocacy groups to try to block Thomas's Supreme Court nomination. His nomination was nearly defeated after former aide Anita Hill accused him of sexual harassment. He won confirmation by a vote of 52 to 48, one of the smallest margins for a high court confirmation in the nation's history.
The two justices appointed since Thomas -- Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen G. Breyer -- were widely viewed as moderates and did not engender much opposition. But with Bush expected to follow through on his promise to nominate a staunch conservative to fill any Supreme Court vacancy, groups on both sides of the political spectrum are girding for an all-out battle.
"This is the most organized effort our side has ever been engaged in," Sekulow said. "It is unprecedented, actually."
The Leadership Conference on Civil Rights and its liberal allies hold several meetings a week attended by as many as 50 representatives of organizations focused on environmental, labor and other issues. The coalition was created more than four years ago to combat Bush's appointment of John D. Ashcroft as attorney general, and it has stayed in business to battle judicial nominees whom the activists consider to be outside the political mainstream.
"The reason all these groups have come together and stayed together is because we understand we are in the fight of our lives," said Nancy Zirkin, the conference's deputy director.
Earlier this year, the National Association of Manufacturers, which represents thousands of large firms such as the Boeing Co. and Caterpillar Inc., said it was going to change its practice and actively support conservative judicial nominees with money for television ads and grass-roots mobilization.
Association President John Engler said that for too long social and civil rights issues have defined Supreme Court nomination battles, even as economic cases fill most of the court's docket. "I think the president framed the issue right during the campaign," Engler said. "We should have justices who interpret the law, not make it."
