Reagan Vows to Win Manion’s Confirmation

Vowing to win Senate confirmation of a controversial judicial nominee, President Reagan told congressional leaders Tuesday that he views Senate opposition to Daniel A. Manion as a vicious attack on the President’s power to appoint judges.

Sen. Richard G. Lugar (R-Ind.) said the President expressed his views during a meeting at the White House. He also predicted that the Senate would vote soon to approve Manion, an Indiana lawyer, as a judge on the U.S. 7th Circuit Court of Appeals.

“The President simply told us all that he considers it a matter in which his prestige is at stake,” Lugar said. “He thinks that the attacks have been vicious.”

Lugar, who described Manion as “a perfectly legitimate nomination,” accused Manion’s Democratic opponents of seizing upon this appointment to demonstrate their overall opposition to the conservative political records of most of Reagan’s judicial nominees.

“I think there is a strategic decision on the part of the Democrats who are hoping to turn around the appointive procedure,” he said. “The Democrats would like to see appointees that are less conservative.”

Lugar said that Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole (R-Kan.) has nearly enough votes to win approval of Manion. Dole has said that he will block a Senate vote on the nomination and allow Manion to take office automatically after the 99th Congress has adjourned, unless he can drum up enough votes to approve it.

Democrats, meanwhile, have been pressing for an early vote on the Manion nomination because they think they can defeat it. Assistant Minority Leader Alan Cranston (D-Calif.) earlier threatened to block Senate consideration of Reagan’s recent Supreme Court nominee, Antonin Scalia, unless Dole allows a vote on Manion.

On Tuesday, however, Cranston backed down on his threat to hold the Scalia nomination hostage. Instead, he said he would block consideration of 38 other judicial nominations unless the Senate is permitted to vote on Manion.

Senate sources indicated that Cranston’s plan to withhold action on the Scalia nomination did not meet with the approval of Senate Minority Leader Robert C. Byrd (D-W.Va.).