Thomas Invited to Meet With Board of NAACP : Judiciary: Rights group wants to ‘look into his eyes’ as he discusses his stands on key issues. The high court nominee’s response is noncommittal.

HOUSTON —  The NAACP extended an invitation Monday to Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas to meet with board members of the civil rights organization so they can resolve questions about his positions on key issues before deciding whether to endorse him.

NAACP Board Chairman William Gibson said that he wants to ask the conservative black jurist about his reported opposition to affirmative action and other civil rights programs and “look into his eyes” as he responds. “I don’t know the man,” Gibson said, an assessment apparently shared by other black leaders.

The proposal drew a noncommittal response from Thomas, who began calling on key lawmakers in Washington in anticipation of his confirmation hearings this fall. “I think it’s best I refrain from responding to questions at this time,” he told reporters.

The NAACP issued its invitation as Louis W. Sullivan, the Bush Administration’s only black Cabinet member, appealed to the NAACP to support “political diversity” and said he supported Thomas for the high court vacancy.

Meanwhile, Senate Majority Leader George J. Mitchell (D-Me.) charged that President Bush’s choice of a black judge to succeed retiring Justice Thurgood Marshall shows that Bush is against quotas “everywhere but the Supreme Court.”

The special invitation to Thomas, issued on the first full day of the annual meeting of the National Assn. for the Advancement of Colored People, underscores the divisive effect of his nomination on civil rights advocates.

In a statement, the NAACP said that the nominee’s actions and public statements “give us pause,” citing in particular his record as chairman of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. “The fact is we are so unfavorably impressed with his known record that we are forced to look further,” the statement said.

Last week, Bush selected Thomas as his choice to succeed Marshall, the high court’s only black justice and an outspoken liberal and advocate for civil rights causes. Thomas, who sits on the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, has expressed opposition to affirmative action and other policies dear to the NAACP.

NAACP Chairman Gibson and Executive Director Benjamin L. Hooks told reporters that the board wants to question Thomas about his views on civil rights issues before deciding whether to endorse, reject or offer no opinion on his nomination. If he refuses to meet with the board, its members will consider the refusal in forming their opinion, the two officials said.

Such a meeting between a Supreme Court nominee and an interest group would be unprecedented. In fact, it has only been since the 1940s that nominees have appeared before the Senate to answer questions.

Presidential spokesman Marlin Fitzwater said the White House was not concerned about the NAACP’s desire to delay a decision on endorsing Thomas. “They’ve indicated they want to take a close look at his record, and we think that’s appropriate,” Fitzwater said.

The mixed feelings about whether to endorse Thomas have emerged as one of the major concerns of the estimated 12,000 delegates and onlookers attending the NAACP convention in Houston through Thursday.

Hooks and Gibson said that they want to meet with Thomas as quickly as possible, perhaps before the convention adjourns, but no specific date has been proposed. They said that they issued the invitation through unidentified “emissaries” and had not spoken directly to Thomas. They said that the board intends also to evaluate a report being prepared by NAACP officials in Washington. That report is expected to be delivered to the board by Aug. 15.

The two officials took issue with arguments that the NAACP is delaying its decision to avoid making members angry during the convention. Also, Hooks bristled at suggestions that the NAACP is delaying action to avoid rejecting a black nominee, even one who holds views in opposition to the organization’s goals.

“We’re not going to be stampeded into mass hysteria just because someone says we’re waffling,” Hooks said, noting that the NAACP typically examines the records of judicial nominees before stating an opinion. “What we’re doing is what we’ve always done,” he said. “We’re not waffling.”

Meanwhile, Sullivan, the secretary of health and human services, urged NAACP members to “support political diversity in our community,” a clear reference to Thomas’ conservative ideology.

Sullivan noted that blacks traditionally have embraced leaders with divergent opinions, including W.E.B. DuBois and Booker T. Washington, or Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X. “We have always had a diverse approach to solving our problems,” he said.

Sullivan later told reporters that he supports Thomas’ nomination, believing the nominee “to be in touch with his (black) roots.”

He said that Thomas has told him personally that he supports Brown vs. Topeka Board of Education, the landmark 1954 school desegregation case brought before the high court by Marshall, who was the top attorney for the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund at the time.

“He has told me he looks to Marshall as a hero,” Sullivan said.

Another prominent black official, U.S. Civil Rights Commission Chairman Arthur A. Fletcher, told NAACP delegates that he is unwilling to accede to a request made by unnamed White House officials that he lobby at the convention on behalf of Thomas’ nomination.

“They asked me, ‘What can you do for him?’ and I said, ‘What can he do for himself?’ ” Fletcher said. “I told the White House I would expose (Thomas’) record to you. I told them he would get a fair shot, but that’s the best I could do.”

Fletcher said that he has not made up his own mind about Thomas but believes it is possible that Thomas’ public statements and writings may not truly reflect his personal views regarding civil rights issues.

“I know what it’s like to be a black Republican and have to deal with the right-wing extremists within the party,” Fletcher said in an interview. “I wouldn’t be surprised if Thomas has been under some pressure to say some of what has been reported that he’s said.”

In Washington, partisan sharpshooting began over the Thomas nomination as the Senate returned from its Fourth of July break.

Bush emphasized Thomas’ determination in overcoming childhood poverty as he spoke at a ceremony in the White House Rose Garden. Thomas, the President said, offers “a very stirring testament to what people can do when they refuse to take no for an answer.”

But Senate Majority Leader Mitchell charged that the selection of a black jurist to replace Marshall shows that Bush is against quotas for every position “except for the Supreme Court and for everyone except himself.”

Mitchell said that he has not decided how he will vote on Thomas’ confirmation and that he will await the results of hearings before the Senate Judiciary Committee, now expected to begin in September.

When asked about Mitchell’s remarks, Senate Minority Leader Bob Dole (R-Kan.) retorted that his Democratic counterpart is “totally wrong” because the President had considered other factors besides race in selecting Thomas.

Dole, speaking to reporters after meeting with Thomas and four other Republicans in a strategy meeting at the Capitol, said, “Race may have been a factor (in the Thomas nomination), but it was not the sole factor.”

Meanwhile, a member of the U.S. Civil Rights Commission urged the Senate to reject the Thomas nomination on grounds that it is an insult to those who fought in the civil rights movement.

Mary Frances Berry, a Jimmy Carter Administration appointee to the eight-member independent agency, issued the statement as the White House formally submitted Thomas’ name to the Senate.

“(Thomas’) appointment to the Supreme Court is insulting to those who marched, went to jail and died in the civil rights movement so that he and other African-Americans might become achievers in a different America,” Berry said.

Berry, who was an assistant secretary of education in the Carter Administration before being named to the commission, said that Thomas was a “time server” when he headed the office of civil rights in the Education Department during the Ronald Reagan Administration.

Meanwhile, delegates to the League of United Latin American Citizens have urged the Senate to reject Thomas. “We’re opposed to it because we know his track record,” the group’s president, Jose Velez, told the Associated Press. The group ended its annual convention in Chicago on Sunday.

Fulwood reported from Houston and Eaton from Washington. Staff writer David Savage in Washington also contributed to this story.