Senate Panel Plans to Begin Hearings on Bork Sept. 15

The Senate Judiciary Committee plans 10 days of hearings starting Sept. 15 on the nomination of Judge Robert H. Bork to be an associate Supreme Court justice, with a vote by the panel scheduled for Oct. 1.

“The nomination could be on the (Senate) floor as early as Friday, Oct. 2,” Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. (D-Del.), committee chairman, said today. But he indicated he would not be concerned if final action did not come before Oct. 5, the first Monday in October, when the Supreme Court begins its new term.

Biden, who is seeking the Democratic presidential nomination, said his proposed schedule was not a commitment “because we don’t know what will happen at the hearings. It is just a proposal which I hope we can follow.”

Biden outlined the schedule at a business meeting of the committee.