Court Quest Could Start ‘Blood Bath,’ Dole Says : Judiciary: He warns that an abortion ‘litmus test’ would ignite a fight during the confirmation process.

President Bush met for an hour and a half with top advisers Sunday night as Senate Minority Leader Bob Dole (R-Kan.) warned that the nomination of a hard-line anti-abortion candidate for the Supreme Court could create a “blood bath” in the Senate.

Amid signs that the nomination process is on a fast track, Bush called Vice President Dan Quayle, Atty. Gen. Dick Thornburgh, White House Counsel C. Boyden Gray and Chief of Staff John H. Sununu to the White House for their second meeting of the weekend to discuss a replacement for retired Supreme Court Justice William J. Brennan Jr.

A new nominee “could come as early as this week,” White House spokesman Alixe Glenn said Sunday night.

Dole, a conservative and an opponent of abortion, said on the NBC-TV program “Meet the Press,” that President Bush faces “the toughest domestic decision he has had to make since he’s been President” and advised that Bush should not feel beholden to any one group--such as the conservative wing of the GOP--in making his choice.

Bush held his meeting Sunday night to guarantee a lengthy free period on his schedule to “discuss candidates and qualifications,” Glenn said. The meeting originally had been scheduled to take half an hour, but went three times as long.

Two key members of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Sens. Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah) and Joseph R. Biden Jr. (D-Del.), said that they do not expect any contact with the White House until today.

Dole said Sunday that Bush called him the previous night “to ask if I had any ideas.” Dole said he warned the President that “I assumed the big A word would be the tough hurdle to climb.”

Dole said he did not believe that former President Ronald Reagan had asked any of his three court nominees their views on abortion during the selection process, “so I don’t think the President or anybody’s going to ask on his behalf.”

However, activists on both sides of the abortion issue said that they consider the eventual nominee’s view on abortion to be critical and are unlikely to be satisfied with a nominee who declines to express his or her view on the subject.

Dole suggested, however, that the President’s choice will fare better in confirmation hearings if he or she is chosen for a broad array of talents.

“What President Bush owes the country--that’s the important thing, not any group, liberals or conservatives, or pro-life or pro-choice--is an outstanding nominee who will be on the bench for some time, someone young enough to be there 10, 15 or 20 years,” Dole said.

Dole, who called himself “a pro-life senator,” predicted that if Bush selects “someone who wants to overturn Roe vs. Wade, it’s going to be a blood bath getting the nomination confirmed, and the same is true on the other side.”

Several members of the Judiciary Committee, which will conduct hearings on the nomination, agreed that Bush should avoid making the decision based on a candidate’s position on one issue.

“I hope President Bush does not go for a single-issue litmus test,” said Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.), appearing on CBS-TV’s “Face the Nation.”

The nominee should “have a broad base--learned in the law, background, experience, integrity,” Specter said. “The abortion issue is only one of many, many very important issues to come before the court, and I do not believe a Supreme Court justice . . . ought to be evaluated solely on where he or she stands on a single issue.”

Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.), another member of the committee, described the situation facing President Bush as “an enormous opportunity” and said that, if asked, he would advise the President: “Don’t . . . go with the symbolism. . . . Some will ask you to make a symbolic appointment. Go with your place in the history books because, what you do in this appointment, you can shape the course of the Supreme Court well into the next century.”

Leahy said that the Judiciary Committee will give the nominee “a fair hearing,” and said that “we ought to give the President, at least initially, the benefit of the doubt. I would hope that he would go with this great historic opportunity he has and think of all the country, but also think of the time, the decades beyond. . . . “

Sen. Howard M. Metzenbaum (D-Ohio), another member of the committee, said on ABC-TV’s “This Week With David Brinkley” that he does not think there is “any chance he (Bush) will appoint or nominate somebody that I would like. On the other hand, I think that there is a chance he’ll send somebody up who I would consider a balanced nominee.”

He added: “I think the Senate Judiciary Committee is not looking for a battle. I think we’re hopeful that George Bush, the President, will nominate somebody that represents some balance, not somebody that we’re all going to be enthused about, but somebody that is not just a candidate of the right wing.”

Names that have emerged during the weekend include U.S. Solicitor Gen. Kenneth W. Starr, 44, who served five years on the federal appeals court here and is considered a leading candidate; appeals court judges David Souter, 50, a Bush appointee to the court in Boston; Ralph K. Winter, 54, of New Haven, Conn.; Edith Jones, 41, of Houston; and Patrick Higginbotham, 51, of Dallas.

Also appearing on the ABC program, Hatch said that he still regrets the defeat of Robert H. Bork, Reagan’s failed choice for the court, and hopes President Bush will consider him--a prospect many observers doubt.

“I think one of the great tragedies of the Senate confirmation process was the defeat of Robert Bork,” Hatch said. “There’s no question . . . that he deserved to be on the court, and I don’t think there’s much question in anybody else’s mind, including the people out there in the country.”

But Metzenbaum said that nominating Bork again would “just open up the whole gamut of issues that we had before,” adding: “I don’t think there’s any more likelihood that Robert Bork would be confirmed this time than there was last time.”

Staff writers Ronald J. Ostrow, Paul Houston and David Lauter contributed to this story.