Carswell to be an associate justice of the United States Supreme Court to replace Abe Fortas, who had resigned in May 1969. Nixon had earlier nominated Clement Haynsworth to succeed Fortas, but the nomination was rejected by the U.S. Senate. The Senate Judiciary Committee opened hearings on the nomination eight days after Nixon made the announcement; and the president anticipated that the nomination would proceed smoothly. Before they began, however, the press uncovered a speech delivered by Carswell during his unsuccessful Georgia legislative bid in 1948 that espoused the principles of white supremacy. In the August 2, 1948 speech to the American Legion chapter at Gordon, Georgia, he said: When the story broke, Carswell said "specifically and categorically, I renounce and reject the words themselves and the thought they represent; they are abhorrent." The NAACP, upon learning of Carswell's racist comments, declared their opposition to Carswell's nomination and asked that his appointment be rejected by the Senate. U.S. Attorney General John Mitchell, citing an extensive background check by the Justice Department, was willing to forgive, stating that it was unfair to criticize Carswell for "political remarks made 22 years ago". Other issues regarding Carswell's civil rights record soon also came to light, such as him being involved in turning a public golf course into a segregated private club in Tallahassee, Florida, signing a deed to property which contained a racially restrictive covenant and prolonging the duration of a school desegregation case from 1963 to 1967. Meanwhile, feminists accused him of being an opponent of women's rights. Various women, including U.S. Congresswoman Patsy Mink and Betty Friedan, testified before the Senate, opposed his nomination. They described a case in which Judge Carswell refused a rehearing for a complainant who was the mother of preschool children. During the hearings concerns about Carswell's mediocre skill as a jurist were raised as well. By one assessment, it was reported, 40 percent of his rulings had been overturned on appeal. Louis H. Pollak, then dean of Yale Law School, testified that: "There is nothing in these opinions that suggests more than at very best a level of modest competence, no more than that." Senator George McGovern of South Dakota said of Carswell, "I find his record to be distinguished largely by two qualities: racism and mediocrity." In response, Senator Roman Hruska of Nebraska suggested that critics were focusing on Carswell's scholarship because they didn't like