Stop Doubting Thomas

Chief Justice William Rehnquist must loathe opening the morning paper these days. Every day, there is fresh speculation on his impending death or resignation. Pundits have opined on whether his agreement to administer the inaugural oath in January is a sign that he is staying or that he is bidding farewell. Every public appearance of associate justices Clarence Thomas and Antonin Scalia is scrutinized for clues as to who is leading in the chief- justice sweeps.

President Bush has long identified Thomas and Scalia as his two favorite jurists, and make no mistake about it, both are seeking the court's top seat. The very concept of justices campaigning for a position may seem out of character for the staid and insular Supreme Court, but the court has its own brand of politics.

The intrigue escalated suddenly a couple of weeks ago when White House officials intentionally leaked that the president was leaning toward Thomas for chief justice. Liberals went into a frenzy, and the dust-up may have served to help Scalia's chances. Incoming Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) responded to the rumors by saying on NBC's "Meet the Press" that he would oppose Thomas, whom he described as "an embarrassment to the Supreme Court." Then, in a surprising concession, he said he could support Scalia as an alternative.

But Thomas is still the front-runner. Those who are astonished by his resurrection -- after his bruising 1991 confirmation hearing -- know little about his grit. Thomas likes to tell the story of how he was hounded by racist students at a Catholic school. The students took his statuette of St. Jude from next to his bed and broke off its head. Thomas glued it back together. When they did it again, he got industrial glue and pieced it back together. They stopped messing with his statuette.

Once Thomas was sworn in on the court, he seemed to disappear from view -- never speaking in oral arguments and rarely speaking publicly. However, he lost no time behind the scenes in patiently gluing himself back together. Over the course of the last decade, Thomas has quietly assembled an impressive power base in Washington, built the old-fashioned way -- one appointment at a time. He maintains the highest degree of influence while preserving the lowest possible profile.