WASHINGTON, Nov. 11—
President Reagan, stung by the failure of two
nominations to the Supreme Court in the last three weeks, today
nominated Judge Anthony M. Kennedy and expressed the hope that he could
be confirmed quickly in a spirit of bipartisan cooperation.
Mr. Reagan emphasized that Judge Kennedy ''seems to
be popular with many senators of varying political persuasions.''
''The experience of the last several months has made
all of us a bit wiser,'' he said. [ Transcript, page B10. ] Mr.
Reagan's tone today was in marked contrast to the sharply partisan terms
in which he presented his previous nominee, Judge Douglas H unblocked school. Ginsburg,
two weeks ago. Then the President called the Senate's rejection of his
first nominee, Judge Robert H. Bork, a ''disservice to the Court and to
the nation'' and said that ''the American people will know what's up''
if the Senate did not act quickly. 'Delighted' to Be Picked
Judge Kennedy, in his brief appearance before White
House reporters today, was asked whether he was ''upset that you are, in
effect, the third choice for this seat?''
''I'm delighted with this nomination,'' he replied with a slight smile.
Senators from both parties said they would reserve
judgment and examine the new nominee's record closely. But beneath the
studiously noncommittal responses was a general expectation that Judge
Kennedy would be confirmed, as well as collective relief that another
bruising battle could probably be avoided.
Still the moment was a bitter one for a number of
conservatives, both on and off Capitol Hill. They viewed Mr. Reagan as
abandoning one of the principal goals of his Presidency, that of
changing the direction of the Supreme Court. Biden Pledges Cooperation
Key Democrats said that confirmation hearings would almost certainly not begin until January.
The chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee,
Senator Joseph R. Biden Jr., said: ''I'm glad the President has made his
choice. We will get the process under way and move as rapidly as is
prudent. We want to conduct the committee's review with both
thoroughness and dispatch.''
Judge Kennedy, a 51-year-old Harvard Law School
graduate, was named in 1975 to the United States Court of Appeals for
the Ninth Circuit, which covers California and several other Western
states.
In writing nearly 500 opinions, he has earned a
reputation as a careful judge of basically conservative leanings who
approaches legal problems case by case and has apparently never evinced a
desire to change the modern course of constitutional law. Some scholars
who have studied his record say his approach is similar to that of
Justice Lewis F. Powell Jr., whose retirement last June created the
vacancy on the Supreme Court. Justice Powell was a nonideological
conservative who often cast the deciding vote on the sharply polarized
Court. Was on Earlier List
By contrast, President Reagan's first choice, Judge
Bork, whom the Senate rejected last month by a vote of 58 to 42, is an
acerbic critic of many recent trends in the law. The public learned
little of the views of the next choice, Judge Ginsburg, who withdrew on
Saturday, two days after disclosing that he used marijuana once as a
student in the 1960's and several times in the 1970's while a professor
at Harvard Law School.
Judge Kennedy, asked today whether he had ever smoked marijuana, said, ''No, firmly no.''
After Judge Bork's defeat, Mr. Reagan was on the
verge of choosing Judge Kennedy when Attorney General Edwin Meese 3d
prevailed on him to pick the 41-year-old Judge Ginsburg instead.
Judge Kennedy's name was on a list of 13 potential
nominees that Howard H. Baker Jr., the President's chief of staff,
presented to Senate leaders after Judge Bork's defeat. While the
Democrats objected to some names on the list, including that of Judge
Ginsburg, they raised no objection to Judge Kennedy. Some conservative
Republicans objected that Judge Kennedy was not conservative enough, but
the prospect of serious opposition from the right faded this week as
Judge Kennedy's nomination appeared all but inevitable.
''I doubt that any conservatives are going to oppose
him,'' Senator Orrin G. Hatch, a Utah Republican who Monday excoriated
the White House for not standing by Judge Ginsburg, said today.
In turning this time to a consensus nominee,
President Reagan was yielding to a political reality that includes
Democratic control of the Senate and his own weakened powers as he
enters his last year in office.
''There's been a basic compromise of principle
that's not satisfying to me,'' Senator Charles E. Grassley, an Iowa
Republican, said Tuesday as word circulated that Judge Kennedy's
nomination was virtually assured. ''But I suppose I'm resigned. There's a
practical aspect.''
Asked whether President Reagan had a choice other
than compromise, Senator Grassley, a member of the Judiciary Committee,
replied, ''If I were President of the United States, I think I'd figure
one out.''
Richard A. Viguerie, a conservative political
consultant unblocked games online, said in an interview that the mood among conservatives was
one of ''total anger and frustration.'' He called the Kennedy nomination
''a total surrender to the left.'' 'Battle Fatigue' a Factor
Other conservative leaders struck a more fatalistic
note. ''There isn't another Bob Bork out there, and we knew that all
along,'' said Daniel Casey, president of the American Conservative
Union. ''When the dust settles, people will regard this as a good
choice.''Furthermore, Mr. Casey said, ''There's institutional battle
fatigue involved here.''
From the liberal end of the political spectrum,
there was a striking difference between the reception Judge Kennedy
received today, muted though it was, and the warning notes that greeted
Judge Bork and Judge Ginsburg. Senator Edward M. Kennedy, who led a
harsh attack on Judge Bork and described Judge Ginsburg as ''Judge Bork
without the paper trail,'' said today only that he was interested in
studying the new nominee's lengthy judicial record. ''I look forward to
the hearings and to meeting Judge Kennedy,'' the Massachusetts Democrat
said.
Laurence H. Tribe, the Harvard Law School professor
and a liberal who has been a close adviser to Senator Biden, said in an
interview that his initial impressions of Judge Kennedy were very
favorable.
''His opinions are more sensitive than strident,''
Mr. Tribe said. ''He replaces the dogmatism of Robert Bork with a sense
of decency and moderation.''
But despite Judge Kennedy's voluminous record,
little has been gleaned so far about his views on key issues on which
the Supreme Court is closely divided. These include abortion,
affirmative action, and the relationship between church and state.
Senator Patrick J. Leahy of Vermont, a Democratic
member of the Judiciary Committee, said he expected the hearings to be
substantive.
Senator Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, the only
Republican on the committee to vote against Judge Bork, said: ''At first
blush, Judge Kennedy looks good, but the Judiciary Committee will have
to check out his qualifications very carefully, as the Constitution
requires.''
The nominee himself said today, ''I'm looking
forward to this scrutiny that the Senate should give any nominee in the
discharge of its constitutional duty.''
It was not only the lack of knowledge about Judge
Kennedy's views that caused senators to withhold the sweeping
proclamations with which some of them had greeted the earlier nominees.
Republicans, particularly those who had offered early support to Judge
Ginsburg, were afraid of getting burned again, while the Democrats,
viewing the Supreme Court vacancy with some amusement a Republican
problem, see no need to take a position.
The Senate majority leader, Robert C. Byrd of West
Virginia, captured this mood today when he said, ''I hope this
nomination will provide no more surprises to the Congress or
embarrassment to the White House.''
0 comments:
Post a Comment