ASSOCIATE JUSTICE CLARENCE THOMAS - FIRST DAY COVER SIGNED CO-SIGNED BY: ASSOCIATE JUSTICE SANDRA DAY O'CONNOR, JOHN GRISHAM - HFSID 209047

CLARENCE THOMAS, SANDRA DAY O'CONNOR and JOHN GRISHAM. First Day Cover signed: "John Grisham", "Clarence Thomas" and "Sandra D O'Connor", 6½x3½. There is a fourth, unidentified signature. FDC honoring Hugo L. Black, five 5-cent Black stamps affixed, postmarked Washington, D.C., February 27, 1986, FIRST DAY OF ISSUE. CLARENCE THOMAS (born in 1948), civil rights chief of the U.S. Department of Education (1981-1982), Chairman of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (1982-1990), Federal Appeals Court Judge (1990-1991) and a Black American with conservative views on affirmative action and abortion, was appointed by President Bush in 1991 to fill the seat of retiring liberal Associate Justice Thurgood Marshall, who was the first Black American on the Supreme Court. In October, when approval was all but assured, the Senate Judiciary Committee reopened confirmation hearings to examine charges by Anita Hill, a University of Oklahoma law professor, that Thomas had subjected her to sexual harassment while she was an Equal Employment Opportunity Commission employee in the 1980. Televised testimony and debate on the charges did not change the committee's recommendation for approval, but polls showed a deep division in public opinion. Thomas, who was confirmed by a full Senate vote of 52-48, is still a member of the Court. On July 7, 1981, President Reagan nominated SANDRA DAY O'CONNOR (1930-2023), a Judge on the Arizona State Court of Appeals, was the first woman Justice in the history of the U.S. Supreme Court. Confirmed by the Senate 99-0, she was sworn in on September 25, 1981 and served until her retirement in 2006. JOHN GRISHAM, whose name is synonymous with the modern legal thriller, published his 11th novel, The Brethren, about the Supreme Court, in February 2000. The graduate of the Ole Miss law school began his writing career with A Time to Kill (1988). It was followed by The Firm, the best-selling novel of 1991, The Pelican Brief and The Client, which debuted as number one on "The New York Times" best-seller list. Writing (unknown hand) between the signatures of Grisham and Thomas. Slightly soiled at upper and lower right blank corners. Fine condition.