Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, June 15, 1993 TAG: 9306150160
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Cox News Service
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
"I would expect an overwhelming if not unanimous vote," said Sen. William Cohen, R-Maine.
In a surprise ending to his three-month search, the president picked a jurist who began her career as a powerful advocate for women's rights and later developed a reputation as a centrist in 13 years on the federal appeals bench.
Ginsburg, 60, has proven to be a "healer," Clinton said as he introduced the New York-born jurist in an emotional Rose Garden ceremony.
"Time and again her moral imagination has cooled the fires of her colleagues' discord," Clinton said. "I believe that in the years ahead she will be able to be a force for consensus building on the Supreme Court."
Ginsburg declined to discuss her views in detail, but said one of her "prime guides" is a statement by Chief Justice William Rehnquist: "A judge is bound to decide each case fairly in accord with the relevant facts and the applicable law even when the decision is not what the home crowd wants."
Tears welled in the president's eyes as Ginsburg, who is married with two children, recalled the struggle for women's rights and hailed advancement toward an age "when daughters are cherished as much as sons."
The mood was quickly broken as a reporter asked the president about the apparent "zigzag" course of his nomination process. Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt and then federal appeals court Judge Steven Breyer of Boston were touted as near-certain picks before Clinton settled on Ginsburg.
Clinton shot back: "How could you ask a question like that after the statement she just made is beyond me," and angrily marched off the podium.
If confirmed, Ginsburg would be the second woman to serve on the Supreme Court. She would take the seat of retiring Justice Byron White and reinstate the tradition of a "Jewish seat" that had lapsed since the resignation of Abe Fortas in 1969.
Although the first nomination by a Democratic president in a quarter-century drew widespread praise, some liberals were cautious as they began delving into Ginsburg's decisions and writings since being appointed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia in 1980 by then-President Carter.
Some groups raised questions about her vote upholding the discharge of a gay sailor and her criticism of the legal reasoning behind Roe vs. Wade, the landmark decision that legalized abortion.
Ginsburg, who has long supported abortion rights, faulted the Roe vs. Wade decision because it was founded on the right of privacy instead of the principle of equality.
by CNB