Bork Hearings Set for September; High Court May Open One Short

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Joseph R. Biden Jr. (D-Del.), saying that “the overwhelming prospect is I will be voting against Judge (Robert H.) Bork,” announced Wednesday that hearings on President Reagan’s Supreme Court nomination will not begin until Sept. 15, making it almost certain that the court will be short one justice when it begins its new term in October.

Biden, who will preside over the Senate examination of Bork’s controversial appointment, also said that he will curtail his personal campaigning for the Democratic presidential nomination to prepare the hearings.

The campaign and “everything else is second-degree,” in comparison with “the most significant Supreme Court nomination in the last several decades and arguably in this century,” Biden said.

Biden canceled a trip to Iowa this week, sending his wife in his stead, but his campaign will continue, with fewer appearances by the candidate, his campaign officials said.

Biden’s statement that he was inclined to vote against Bork’s confirmation came after several weeks of intense pressure by civil rights groups and others who fear Bork would give conservatives the upper hand on the court.

Biden met Wednesday with representatives of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, the Women’s Legal Defense Fund and other organizations and pledged he would lead the opposition, sources said.

But more controversial than Biden’s early stand was the date he announced for the beginning of the hearings.

“There is absolutely no substantive reason why we have to wait two months . . .” said Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole (R-Kan.), a Bork supporter. “We need to get the process moving so that the Supreme Court will be at full strength for its fall session.”

“We hope they will reconsider, because we would sure like to start the new term with a full court,” White House spokesman Marlin Fitzwater said.

The fall term begins Oct. 5, and it is unlikely that the confirmation process could be completed in three weeks.

Democrats, who are not eager to let Bork take a seat on the court quickly, played down the potential problems--including 4-4 stalemates--that an eight-person court might confront. “I don’t think the country will fall because of that,” said Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.). “Justice won’t be delayed or denied.”

When the Judiciary Committee meets today to discuss future plans, Republicans will demand a commitment for a vote on Bork by early October, said an aide to Sen. Strom Thurmond (R-S.C.), the committee’s senior Republican. “Mid-to-late October would be unreasonable,” spokesman Mark Goodin said.

Biden, however, said before a caucus of the committee’s Democratic members that the Democrats, who control the panel 8 to 6, have “no inclination to set an end point” for the hearings.

‘No Effort to Delay’

There will be “no effort in the committee to delay” Bork’s hearings, but they will be “full and thorough and fair,” he said.

Thurmond and the Republicans may try to pressure Biden by threatening to hold up legislation that Democrats would like to see enacted. But “when you’re talking about the next 30 years of constitutional law, everything else pales in comparison,” a Democratic aide said.