COURT KILLS BROADCAST-LICENSE PREFERENCE FOR WOMEN

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, February 20, 1992                   TAG: 9202200253
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-5   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: The Washington Post
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Medium
COURT KILLS BROADCAST-LICENSE PREFERENCE FOR WOMEN
The U.S. Court of Appeals, in an opinion by now Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, Wednesday overturned a federal affirmative action policy that gave special preference to women in awarding radio and television broadcast licenses.
The 2-1 ruling said the Federal Communications Commission's policy was unconstitutional because it discriminates against men. Thomas wrote the ruling when he was on the appeals court; he returned Wednesday to release it.
The decision provides insight into Thomas's judicial thinking on affirmative action programs and adds a footnote to his bitter Senate confirmation battle last fall.
The weekly Legal Times reported in late September, in the middle of the hearings, that Thomas had ruled against the FCC policy but was withholding issuance of the opinion because it might damage his chances. The article outlined Thomas's opinion in detail. Thomas denied the allegation, according to Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., a Thomas supporter on the Senate Judiciary Committee.
In an unusual concurring opinion Wednesday, Judge James Buckley called for an investigation into the source of the leak, but confirmed "the general accuracy of the information divulged to the Legal Times." Buckley did not address the question of whether Thomas had delayed the opinion.
Buckley, joined by five other judges on the full appeals court, called for an investigation of what he called a "most serious breach of trust," saying the leaking of confidential information is a "disease."
The Supreme Court in 1990 upheld the FCC's preference policy for minority applicants for radio and television licenses. The question of gender-based preferences was left open. Thomas testified to the Judiciary Committee he had no reason to disagree with that ruling.
Wednesday's ruling said the FCC's policy regarding women could not be sustained.
Thomas said the policy was not supported by evidence of "any statistically meaningful link between ownership by women and programming of any particular kind."

by Bhavesh Jinadra by CNB