Article from November 1998

	As featured in November 1998
	Denouncing Hypocrisy

NAACP's Mfume and 18 Activists Arrested During Supreme Court Demonstrations

By Sheila Douglas

BALTIMORE, MD — NAACP President and CEO Kweisi Mfume and 18 other activists were arrested during a mass demonstration to protest the "shameful and hypocritical record" of the Supreme Court Justices in hiring minority clerks. The protest was held October 5, 1998, in front of the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, D.C.

President Mfume attempted to deliver resumes of qualified minority law school graduates to the Justices by crossing the police barricade and proceeding up the court's steps. Mfume and other demonstrators peacefully surrendered to officers for arrest as a crowd of 1,000 spanning all ages and ethnic backgrounds chanted "No justice, no peace."

Rep. Gregory Meeks of New York; Archbishop G. Augustus Stallings, founder of the African American Catholic Congregation; Chief Gilbert Blue, from the Catawbe Indian Nation; Ernie Stevens, Jr., first vice president of the National Congress of American Indians; Rev. Dr. Staccato Powell, associate general secretary of the National Council of Churches; Blacks In Government national president Oscar Eason; and C. Delores Tucker, past president of the National Political Congress of Black Women joined Mfume in the civil disobedience.

NAACP Board of Directors arrested during the protest included Richard Burton and Rev. Morris Shearin. NAACP Special Contribution Fund Board of Trustee Clayola Brown was also arrested. Other NAACP members and staff arrested included Detroit branch president Rev. Wendell Anthony, Virginia State Conference Youth & College president Jasper Hendricks, Youth & College Director Rev. Jamal Harrison-Bryant, Maryland CDRC Director Jennine Auerbach, Virginia attorney Jeffrey Doranz and Gwendolyn Lewis. Dr. Patricia Deveaux of Missions A.M.E. Church in southern Africa was also arrested.

Mfume said, "The fact that the nine justices who sit on the highest court in the land do not practice equal opportunity exposes a great deal of hypocrisy."

The rally coincided with the opening day of the court's 1998-1999 session. It marked the second year in a row that no African Americans were hired as clerks. The current justices have hired only seven blacks out of a total of 428 clerks. Also, only 1 percent hired were Latino, 4 percent Asian and only one-fourth of the clerks hired were women. Furthermore, in the 200-year history of the Supreme Court, no Native Americans have ever received a clerkship.

The number of women and minorities among Supreme Court clerks is so low that if the court were a business, the statistics alone would prove illegal discrimination.

Chief Justice William Rehnquist and Justices Antonin Scalia, Anthony Kennedy and David Souter employ no black clerks. Justice Scalia has appointed no minority law clerks at all. Chief Justice William Rehnquist has the next lowest record of minority appointments, with one Hispanic law clerk for a 1.2 percent overall hiring record.

"Supreme Court law clerks wield a great amount of power by having the ear of the justices. The clerks' influence on both the cases heard and the opinions written by the court is tremendous and cannot be underestimated as we review the recent decisions by this activist court that has narrowed opportunity for people of color across a broad range of issues, such as affirmative action, workplace discrimination and the Voting Rights Act," said Mfume.

In June, Chief Justice Rehnquist rejected a request from the Coalition of Bar Associations of Color, which includes the National Bar Association (which represents 17,000 African-American lawyers), the Hispanic National Bar Association, the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association and the Native American Bar to meet to discuss minority hires. In response to the request, Chief Justice Rehnquist stated that he didn't think such a meeting "would serve any useful purpose."

A cross-section of national organizations representing labor, religious, legal and advocacy groups participated in the demonstration. The Coalition of Bar Associations of Color pledged their support to the NAACP in this effort. Representatives from the United Auto Workers, the National Organization for Women, the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund and the Native American Rights Fund were also present.

Those arrested were charged with violating Title 40 of the United States Code-unlawful entry on the grounds of the Supreme Court. They plead guilty before a judge at the D.C. Superior Court who suspended sentencing, ordered no probation but issued each a $50 fine that was paid and goes to support the District of Columbia Victim's Rights Fund.

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Denouncing Hypocrisy