Reagan Picks Ginsburg for Court in a Surprise : Conservative Nominee, 41, Has Been an Appeals Judge 1 Year

In a surprising decision, President Reagan on Thursday nominated Douglas H. Ginsburg, a 41-year-old conservative with one year of experience as a judge, to the U.S. Supreme Court.

“By selecting Judge Ginsburg, I’ve gone the extra mile to ensure a speedy confirmation,” Reagan told an audience of conservatives in introducing his nominee at the White House. “I’ve been impressed by the fact that in academia, in government and on the bench, Judge Ginsburg has been enormously popular with colleagues of all political persuasions.”

The President, apparently signaling the focus of the Administration’s campaign to win Ginsburg’s confirmation, said the judge believes that courts must take into account “not just the rights of criminals but, equally important, the rights of the victims.” He added: “No one has rights when criminals are allowed to prey on society. Judge Ginsburg understands that. And that’s why I am nominating him.”

The new nominee, a judge on the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in theDistrict of Columbia since Oct. 14, 1986, said in brief remarks: “I’m looking forward to the confirmation process and, upon confirmation, to taking a place in the court.”

The choice of Ginsburg came as a surprise to many, for it had been widely believed that Reagan would nominate Judge Anthony M. Kennedy of the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco, a more experienced jurist who was considered much safer politically.

Last year, Ginsburg’s lack of experience led the American Bar Assn. to give him the lowest of three possible passing grades when he was nominated for his current seat on the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

In the Senate, which dealt Reagan a devastating political defeat only six days ago in rejecting the high court nomination of Robert H. Bork, Ginsburg’s nomination was met with suspicion among Democrats, who control the chamber. While reserving judgment until more is known about the candidate, many criticized his relative lack of judicial experience.

Ginsburg, a 1973 graduate of the University of Chicago Law School who taught at Harvard University’s Law School for seven years, was a senior official in the Office of Management and Budget in 1984 and 1985 and served as assistant attorney general for antitrust affairs in the Justice Department in 1985 and 1986.

Youngest in Half Century

If confirmed by the Senate, he would be the youngest justice to sit on the Supreme Court in nearly half a century and its first Jewish member since 1969.

And Ginsburg would likely give the court the conservative tilt that Reagan had also sought in his nomination of Bork to fill the vacancy created by the retirement last June of Lewis F. Powell Jr., a moderate justice whose pivotal votes decided a number of major cases.

Moreover, his youth could allow him to influence crucial court decisions well into the 21st Century. Indeed, as one senior White House official said: “One of the things that attracted the President’s eye was his age, when he saw he was qualified.”

Reagan called for quick action by the Senate Judiciary Committee on the nomination, hoping to avoid another prolonged battle in his fight to appoint a new justice. “It’s time to put the national interest ahead of partisan political interests,” the President declared.

But Senate Minority Leader Bob Dole (R-Kan.) and other senators believe that Reagan’s allies in the Senate will face another tough fight in seeking Ginsburg’s confirmation, though no senator immediately said he would oppose the nomination.

Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.), one of the leaders of the anti-Bork effort, said Ginsburg is “one of the least experienced nominees ever submitted by a President to the Supreme Court” and is “an ideological clone of Judge Bork, a Judge Bork without a paper trail.”

Calculated Risk

The decision to nominate a young, inexperienced judge represents a calculated risk by the Administration.

Opponents of Ginsburg quickly began questioning his relatively short list of credentials for appointment to the highest court in the land. On the other hand, his brief judicial career has produced few opinions and articles that could provide antagonists with much ammunition to attack his conservative philosophy--a key factor in the downfall of the prolific Bork.

Although Ginsburg is regarded as a conservative jurist, it was unclear how close his judicial philosophy is to that of his predecessor. Earlier this month, after it had become apparent that Bork did not have the votes to win Senate confirmation, Reagan vowed to challenge his opponents with a replacement candidate “that they’ll object to just as much.”

However, because of Ginsburg’s limited public stands on key issues, judicial observers could not determine whether the President had made good on his promise. Some observers, for example, noted that he had served as a law clerk for Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, one of the court’s most liberal members.

Sen. Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah), the most vociferous of Bork’s Senate backers, voiced strong support for Ginsburg. “I think they (Bork and Ginsburg) are intellectual peers,” he said. “After losing Bork, this will please conservatives.”

ACLU May Wait

Ira Glasser, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union, was much less certain about Ginsburg’s judicial philosophy. Because the nominee has written so little--as opposed to Bork’s extensive articles and written opinions on sensitive issues--Glasser said his group and others may “have to wait until after the hearings are over to take a position.”

Reagan, senior White House officials say, decided to offer Ginsburg the nomination at 9:45 a.m. EST Thursday, about 12 hours after a bitter argument between Atty. Gen. Edwin Meese III and White House Chief of Staff Howard H. Baker Jr. Meese said in a brief telephone interview that the meeting dealt with “judicial ability and confirmability” of the candidates.

Meese, a longtime conservative friend of the President whose association with him dates back to Reagan’s governorship of California, favored Ginsburg. Baker, said by allies to be concerned about the prospects for another politically explosive battle in the Senate, was said to have supported Judge Kennedy.

Sen. Kennedy, noting the attorney general’s ultraconservative leanings, said it was “most ominous” that Meese appeared to have so heavily influenced the President’s choice.

Expressing similar concerns, Sen. Alan Cranston (D-Calif.) said: “There were certainly a number of more qualified and more experienced conservatives on the list being considered.”

‘A Fair Hearing’

But Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Joseph R. Biden Jr. (D-Del.), a key opponent of Bork, told reporters: “I realize that he is likely to generate some opposition, but I am not in a position to offer any assessment of his nomination at this point.” He promised that Ginsburg would be given “a full and fair hearing.”

On the Republican side, considerable support was expressed quickly for the new nominee.

“I know Judge Ginsburg well. I have followed his record,” Sen. Phil Gramm (R-Tex.) said. “I don’t have to listen to his critics to know that that President Reagan has kept his promise to the Senate, that he would send up another conservative nominee. I have no doubt he will be confirmed.”

Democrats on the committee planned to caucus today to discuss the strategy they will follow in their examination of the nominee. White House officials held a legislative strategy meeting shortly after the President announced the nomination, and Ginsburg is expected to begin calling on senators possibly as early as today.

While the White House said it had no commitment to a specific timetable, pressure is building for quick action because a drawn-out fight would carry the battle past the Christmas recess and into the election year of 1988.

The White House took pains to demonstrate Thursday that it had learned some lessons from the battle over Bork, which it lost by a vote of 58 to 42. Reagan and his staff have been criticized for not pressing hard enough and early enough for Bork’s confirmation, while opponents seized early opportunities to portray him as an extremist.

“We are going to do things a little bit differently,” said a senior White House official “We are going to come out of the blocks running, and shape the debate.”

Staff writer Josh Getlin contributed to this story.