600 Hold Anti-Bork Rally in Downtown

Almost 600 people rallied Sunday outside the downtown Federal Building in 100-degree-plus heat to demonstrate their opposition to the confirmation of Robert Bork to the U.S. Supreme Court.

The rally was peaceful except for a brief confrontation with about 10 college students who carried placards in support of the embattled federal appeals court justice.

As the demonstrators surrounded the members of Young Americans for Freedom and College Republicans for Bork, the pro- and anti-Bork groups shouted at each other and there was a brief pushing match but nobody was injured.

The protesters included members of the National Organization for Women, the American Civil Liberties Union, the National Assn. for the Advancement of Colored People, the California branch of the Sierra Club and dozens of other groups.

Eleanor Smeal, former president of NOW, called on the anti-Bork demonstrators to appeal to Sen. Pete Wilson (R-Calif.), who has supported the conservative justice, to oppose his confirmation.

“We’ve got to make this coalition so big that Pete Wilson has a change of heart immediately,” Smeal said. “This rally is only the beginning to stop the court stacking.”