Democrats Promise Close Scrutiny of Court Nominees

Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.), signaling the Senate Democrats’ intention to challenge President Reagan, warned Thursday that the new Democratic majority will not serve as an “automatic rubber stamp” for the President’s judicial nominees.

To assert more influence in the confirmation process, Leahy will head a newly created task force made up of four Democratic senators who he said will “thoroughly investigate” all nominees before the Judiciary Committee formally begins to consider them.

“I’m not going to accept people coming up who are not competent or have questions of sensitivity and integrity,” Leahy told reporters after a speech at Georgetown Law School. “If they have a lot of baggage, we will do a very careful check-in.”

A Harsh Attack

Leahy, while delivering a harsh attack on the quality of Reagan’s judges, provided the Democrats’ first definitive policy statement since winning back control of the Senate last November on the approach they will take in considering judicial appointments.

Since the Reagan Administration took office six years ago, Democrats have protested the ideological nature of the President’s appointments. The growing opposition climaxed last year with intense battles against such nominees as Daniel A. Manion, an Indiana lawyer whom the Senate narrowly confirmed to the U.S. 7th Circuit Court of Appeals, and U.S. Atty. Jefferson B. Sessions III of Alabama, whom the Judiciary Committee rejected for a federal judgeship.

“We’re all familiar with the unusual number of recent nominees who have reached the federal court under the shadow of serious and unresolved doubts about their competence, integrity or judicial temperament,” Leahy said at a symposium on the judicial selection process. “ . . . The sad truth is that, for many of these nominees, their only apparent qualification was their ideology.”

Panel Only Advisory

Leahy, a member of the Judiciary Committee, said the task force will be only advisory and have no voting authority but he stressed the importance of the increased scrutiny it will provide. “It will not seek to delay action on nominations, but we will take as much time as is necessary to develop a complete record on which the full committee and the full Senate can act responsibly. We’re not going to be an automatic rubber stamp.”

Joining Leahy on the task force will be Sens. Howard M. Metzenbaum (D-Ohio), Paul Simon (D-Ill.) and Howell Heflin (D-Ala.), the only conservative on the panel.

Assistant Atty. Gen. Stephen Markman, who addressed the symposium after Leahy, defended the caliber of Reagan’s appointees and denied that they were selected only on ideological grounds to carry out Reagan’s conservative policies.

“We welcome the scrutiny we know we’re going to be receiving from the 100th Congress,” Markman said. “There is no litmus test applied in our process. We never ask candidates’ personal views on abortion, school prayer or the balanced budget.”

Lifetime Tenure

Markman and Leahy agreed that the appointment of federal district and appellate court judges is one of the most important decisions the President and the Senate can make because those appointments are for life.

Moreover, because the federal court system has grown rapidly in recent years, Reagan is expected to name more judges to the bench than any other President.

Leahy rebuked the Republicans who formerly controlled the Senate for giving routine approval to many nominees without careful examination. “National Pickle Week has been as likely to generate spirited debate as the selection of a federal district or appellate court judge with life tenure,” he said.

In addition, the senator accused the Administration of ignoring qualified minority and female candidates. Of the 287 judges named to federal district courts since 1981, only five have been black and 12 Latino, Leahy said, and only 9% have been women.

“Something is wrong with a system that holds out the prospect of the federal courts as an enclave of white male exclusivity and a bastion of mediocrity,” he said.