THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT  
              Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Saturday, July 30, 1994                TAG: 9407300197
SECTION: FRONT                    PAGE: A3   EDITION: FINAL  
SOURCE: THE WASHINGTON POST
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                         LENGTH: Medium:   73 lines

BREYER'S CENTRIST VIEWS HELP HIM WIN CONFIRMATION TO HIGH COURT THE LARGE MARGIN OF VICTORY GIVES CLINTON HIS SECOND MODERATE JUSTICE ON THE SUPREME COURT.

The Senate on Friday overwhelmingly approved Stephen G. Breyer as an associate justice of the Supreme Court, giving President Clinton his second easy confirmation of a judicial centrist to the high court.

Judge Breyer won handily, 87-9, despite a campaign against him by Sen. Richard G. Lugar, R-Ind., who charged that Breyer's investment in a troubled Lloyd's of London syndicate suggested ``extraordinarily bad judgment'' and threatened financial entanglements that could compromise his work on the court.

All Democrats and a vast majority of Republicans voted for Breyer, with most of the opposition coming from GOP conservatives who joined the more moderate Lugar in questioning Breyer's investments, but appeared especially concerned about the nominee's views on property rights and abortion.

Breyer, 55, a former Senate aide who is now chief judge of the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston, replaces retiring Justice Harry A. Blackmun and becomes the nation's 108th justice.

``The responsibility of that position is awesome, rather humbling,'' Breyer said at a celebratory ceremony at the White House with Clinton. ``I'll do my best.''

Breyer's comfortable margin of victory fell short of the 96-3 vote by which the Senate approved Ruth Bader Ginsburg last August as Clinton's first high court nominee.

The Senate's bipartisan embrace of Ginsburg and Breyer contrasted with acrimonious debates over some nominees of Presidents Bush and Reagan and with the increasingly partisan battles over Clinton's domestic legislative initiatives and conduct of foreign policy.

That was largely because the records and views of Ginsburg and Breyer did not raise many ideological hackles, although there was some criticism of Breyer on Friday from both left and right.

``Judge Breyer does not seem to have an ideological bent to move the court in one direction or another,'' said conservative Sen. Strom Thurmond, R-S.C.

Breyer is a ``moderate pragmatist,'' said another conservative, Orrin G. Hatch of Utah, the ranking Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Several conservatives complained that Breyer would not overturn rulings permitting abortions or go far enough in protecting property rights, while liberal Sen. Howard M. Metzenbaum, D-Ohio, attacked what he described as the nominee's pro-business record in antitrust cases.

But most critics wound up by saying they would support him, either because he was the president's choice or because he was ``as good as we have a right to expect,'' as Sen. Phil Gramm, R-Texas, put it in backing Breyer.

There was even rare praise for Clinton from the Republican right. Hatch praised Clinton for his choice of Supreme Court nominees and for his treatment of Republicans in the confirmation process. ILLUSTRATION: Graphic

HOW THEY VOTED

A ``yes'' vote was a vote to confirm Breyer's nomination.

John W. Warner, R-Va. Yes

Charles S. Robb, D-Va. Yes

Jesse A. Helms, R-N.C. No

Lauch Faircloth, R-N.C. Yes

ASSOCIATED PRESS photo

At the White House on Friday, President Clinton congratulates Judge

Stephen G. Breyer after the Senate confirmed Breyer's nomination to

the Supreme Court.

by CNB