Nation IN BRIEF : WASHINGTON, D.C. : 2 GOP Senators Endorse Thomas

Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas picked up support on Capitol Hill as two Republican senators, Don Nickles of Oklahoma and Pete V. Domenici of New Mexico, indicated that they are prepared to vote for his confirmation. Senate Judiciary Committee hearings on Thomas, now a federal appeals court judge in Washington, D.C., are to begin Sept. 10. In a related development, People for the American Way, a civil liberties group, said that the conservative Thomas had acknowledged under oath in 1982 that he had violated a federal court order requiring speedier enforcement of civil rights laws by the Department of Education.