Senators Urge Calm Before Bush Makes Court Choice

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000087&sid=aKw5t8bXOzig&refer=top_world_news Senators Urge Calm Before Bush Makes Court Choice (Update1) July 3 (Bloomberg) -- Republican and Democratic senators urged people and interest groups to resist partisan rhetoric while waiting for U.S. President George W. Bush to select a replacement for retiring Justice Sandra Day O'Connor. ``It would be very useful for the country if the rhetoric were to be toned down,'' Arlen Specter, a Pennsylvania Republican and chairman of the Judiciary Committee, said on NBC's ``Meet the Press.'' Since the announcement July 1 that O'Connor will retire, conservative and liberal groups have been preparing for a contentious fight over a replacement for the justice who cast pivotal votes over abortion rights, affirmative action, and the role of religion in public life. Specter said the interest groups are ``counterproductive,'' and no senators ``are going to run from a fight.'' Bush won't name a replacement before he returns July 8 from a summit of the Group of Eight industrial countries, spokesman Scott McClellan said July 1. If confirmed, the replacement would be the first new member to the high court since 1994 when Harry Blackmun left the court and was replaced by Stephen Breyer. Confirmation hearings would follow recent battles between Democrats and Republicans over lower-court nominees, which nearly brought the Senate to a standstill. Democrats had used filibusters to slow down the confirmation process. Filibuster Senator Dianne Feinstein, a California Democrat, on ``Fox News Sunday'' today, called use of the filibuster ``a last resort.'' ``I don't think there's one Democratic member of the United States Senate who would like to see a filibuster,'' she said. Massachusetts Senator Ted Kennedy said that while Democrats ``want to be able to support,'' Bush's nominee, ``if he wants to have a fight about it, then that's going to be the case.'' Specter said he anticipates holding hearings in August or September, with the hope of having a new justice by early October, when the high court starts its new session. Senators from both sides declined to comment on any of the prospective nominees, including Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, and appellate court judges John Roberts, Michael Luttig, Edith Jones and Edith Clement. Gonzales deflected questions about the Supreme Court nomination as he flew to Iraq to visit troops today, the Associated Press reported. ``I just look at the job that I do as attorney general,'' he said. ``I'm happy in that job.'' Questioning Bush's nominee can anticipate questioning on a wide array of specific topics, such as the 1973 Roe v. Wade abortion rights decision, said Senator Charles Schumer, a New York Democrat. ``The Supreme Court is a lifetime appointment that has enormous power,'' Schumer said on ABC's ``This Week.'' ``The number one thing I am interested in is the nominee's views,'' he said. The Senate should not ``put someone on the bench when you know nothing about their views on civil rights, on women's rights, on environmental rights and on everything else.'' Texas Republican John Cornyn said he would not ask nominees specifics about how they would vote on issues. Cornyn said the unrelenting criticism of interest groups from both sides could turn the hearings into a ``three-ring circus.'' Asking nominees hypothetical questions on how they would decide future cases would reduce the value of the hearings, Cornyn said. ``I just hope that this is a dignified process,'' Cornyn said. To contact the reporter on this story: William McQuillen in Washington at bmcquillen@bloomberg.net Last Updated: July 3, 2005 14:16 EDT