ABSTRACT
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) has viewed the Supreme Court as a major channel to be utilized in the obtaining of racial justice; thus, its composition has been of paramount interest to the association. This chapter analyzes the NAACP's role in the confirmation procedures of Judge John J. Parker, Judge Clement F. Haynsworth, Judge G. Harold Carswell, Judge Robert H. Bork, and Judge Clarence Thomas. Although the NAACP had shown an active interest in the confirmation of previous nominees of the Court, it displayed an extraordinary concern in the filling or the vacancy created as a result of the resignation of Justice Thurgood Marshall in 1991. The NAACP pledged to continue "to fight until an appropriate replacement who embodies the view of the majority of black Americans is nominated and confirmed." According to Benjamin Hooks, both the political views and the judicial philosophies of nominees are of interest to the NAACP.
