Senate Committee Refuses to Endorse Reagan Court Choice

The Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday refused to endorse President Reagan’s nomination of conservative Indiana lawyer Daniel Manion to the regional federal appeals court in Chicago.

The committee split, 9 to 9, on whether to approve Manion’s nomination to the U.S. 7th Circuit Court of Appeals, which hears appeals from federal trial courts in Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin. The panel then voted, 11 to 6, to send the nomination to the full Senate without a recommendation.

Committee staff members said it was the first time that a Reagan Administration judicial nomination was sent to the full Senate without a recommendation.

Opponents argued that Manion, a former state senator and deputy attorney general in Indiana, lacked the legal experience to hold such a high-level job and that his conservative political philosophy would interfere with his judicial duty.

Most of the opposition came from Democrats, but two Republicans--Sens. Charles McC. Mathias Jr. of Maryland and Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania--also voted against the nomination.

Manion is the son of the late Clarence Manion, a John Birch Society leader and former dean of the University of Notre Dame Law School.