Senate Panel Moves Toward Approval of Souter

The Senate Judiciary Committee appeared ready to approve the nomination of Judge David H. Souter to the Supreme Court after its two conservative Democrats announced their support Monday.

Sens. Howell Heflin (D-Ala.) and Dennis DeConcini (D-Ariz.) joined five Republicans on the 14-member panel who have made public their support for Souter in advance of Thursday’s vote.

Three years ago, opposition from Heflin, DeConcini and Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.), the most liberal Republican on the panel, helped doom the nomination of controversial Judge Robert H. Bork to the high court. All three support Souter.

Heflin made clear Monday that he sees Souter, like Bork a conservative, as temperamentally different from the dogmatic Bork.

“Judge Souter will not bring a scorched-earth philosophy to the court, but he will bring a sense of historic perspective and a clearheaded approach to the analysis of legal issues,” said Heflin, a chief justice in Alabama before joining the Senate.

“He has not chosen to turn back the clock on the great constitutional principles of our day,” said DeConcini, recalling the language used against Bork.

The six other Democrats and one Republican on the panel have not yet stated their positions, but no one has said he will vote against Souter. In the entire Senate, only Alan Cranston (D-Calif.) has announced that he opposes Souter.

Cranston based his opposition on Souter’s refusal to say how he would vote on overturning Roe vs. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion.

“I cannot support a nominee who refuses to acknowledge that a woman’s right to choose to terminate a pregnancy is a fundamental right,” Cranston said.

Undecided Senate liberals were coming under some pressure to oppose the nomination.

Over the weekend, the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, an influential coalition of rights groups, called for the Senate to reject Souter.

“We do not believe that David Souter has demonstrated that he has a commitment to constitutional guarantees of individual rights and liberties,” the group said. It cited as “astonishing” Souter’s statement during the committee’s hearings that his home state of New Hampshire does not have racial problems.