Senators OK Kennedy 97-0 : Students Cheer New Justice in Sacramento

The Senate voted 97 to 0 to confirm Anthony M. Kennedy as the nation’s 104th member of the Supreme Court today, ending a seven-month battle to seat a new justice that saw two of President Reagan’s choices go down to defeat.

Kennedy, whose nomination was handled with speed after the bitter, protracted fight over the President’s first choice, Robert H. Bork, will take the oath of office Feb. 18 and will attend his first conference as justice the next day.

Not voting were Sens. Joseph R. Biden Jr. (D-Del.), who was ill, and Albert Gore Jr. (D-Tenn.) and Paul Simon (D-Ill.), who were campaigning for their party’s presidential nomination.

In Sacramento, Kennedy gave a thumbs-up salute as he was greeted by 250 cheering students at McGeorge School of Law. “I have a deep appreciation for the honor conferred by the Senate’s vote this morning,” he said. “I can conceive of no greater honor for an attorney or a judge than to devote a career to preserving our constitutional heritage.”

Praises Senators

The new justice lauded Senate members, saying they did not demand a personal ideology in response to their questions during the confirmation hearings.

Reagan described himself as “extremely pleased” and said the Senate “has not only restored to the nation a full nine-member Supreme Court; it has reaffirmed this country’s commitment to the philosophy of judicial restraint.”

During an hourlong debate preceding the vote, Kennedy received almost universal praise, although some Democrats expressed concerns about his sensitivity to women’s and minority rights.

Sensitivity Questioned

“The Supreme Court rejected restrictive positions taken by Judge Kennedy in three civil rights cases,” said Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.). “And his past membership in three discriminatory clubs raises questions about his sensitivity to the subtle forms that discrimination can take in contemporary America.”

Nevertheless, the senator said the appellate judge was well-qualified to be a justice. “After two false starts, the President heeded the advice of the Senate and nominated a distinguished judge with mainstream views,” he said.

Kennedy, 51, a conservative judge who has served since 1975 on the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in Sacramento, won unanimous endorsement from the Senate Judiciary Committee last week after an easy, three-day confirmation hearing before Congress’ December holiday break.

Historic Battle

He was nominated to the high court Nov. 11. His elevation will end a historic political battle that began months earlier, when Lewis F. Powell Jr., who often gave the deciding vote to the liberal wing of the court on such issues as affirmative action and abortion, announced his retirement June 26.

Bork, 60, nominated July 1, sparked weeks of public debate and acrimonious hearings before he was rejected by the Senate 58 to 42 Oct. 23. He was defeated largely on his long record of speeches and judicial writings attacking high court rulings that bolstered civil rights and individual liberties.

Reagan, then urged by some of his own advisers to select Kennedy or another judge less doctrinaire than Bork, defiantly turned to Douglas Ginsburg, a Bork colleague on the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia.

Ginsburg, nominated Oct. 29, withdrew from consideration Nov. 7 after admitting past marijuana use.