Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, July 25, 1990 TAG: 9007250238
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A/1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: The Washington Post
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
Souter, the little-known, 50-year-old New Hampshire jurist named by Bush Monday to replace retiring Associate Justice William Brennan, continued to draw approving comments across the political spectrum. "I think there's a positive feeling," said Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., a member of the Judiciary Committee which will hold confirmation hearings in September.
President Bush told a GOP fund-raising luncheon in Philadelphia "there should be no litmus test in the process of confirmation," reiterating his statement that he had applied no such standard himself on abortion or any issue.
White House press secretary Marlin Fitzwater said Bush is moving quickly on the nomination because "We saw that some of the special interests - on abortion, civil rights - were going to try to cook up a stew that this nomination would get dumped into."
Sen. Warren Rudman, R-N.H., a close friend of the nominee, said the former New Hampshire Supreme Court justice had made it clear to administration officials that "if they had any litmus tests to apply, he was not interested" in the appointment he received from Bush earlier this year to the 1st Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston or in being elevated to the Supreme Court.
"He will take that same stance with senators," Rudman said. "He has far too much respect for the independence and integrity of the judiciary to allow that to happen."
Bush made the same point, arguing that the court needs justices with "independent minds . . . above the flames of political passion."
The first Judiciary Committee member to indicate publicly an intent to press Souter on the abortion issue was Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, a strong opponent of abortion. "I don't have to be circumspect," he said, "but he may."
Grassley added that "at this point, it looks like it [confirmation] will go very smoothly," a judgment that was echoed at the liberal end of the political spectrum by another Judiciary Committee member, Sen. Howard Metzenbaum, D-Ohio.
"The waters are quiet," Metzenbaum said. "He's got a clean slate so far. But that doesn't mean something won't come up tomorrow morning."
Liberal interest groups said Tuesday night that their first look at Souter's judicial record had yielded no ammunition for a fight against him. Initial review of the more than 200 opinions Souter wrote during his seven years on the state Supreme Court reflected a jurist who focused more often on the mundane and technical issues of a state court than on sweeping constitutional questions.
Administration officials expressed confidence that Bush had found what he wanted - a conservative judge with no written opinions, especially in the abortion area, that would fuel ideological conflict on the eve of the mid-term election.
by CNB