Souter Confirmed for High Court in 90-9 Vote : Judiciary: Senate opponents said they feared he would back overturning of Roe vs. Wade ruling.

Opposed only by nine liberal senators, federal Judge David H. Souter was confirmed Tuesday to a lifetime appointment as the nation’s 105th justice of the Supreme Court.

The opponents, all Democrats, said that they feared Souter would vote to overturn Roe vs. Wade, the landmark 1973 ruling affirming the right to abortion. But the New Hampshire jurist won the praise of most senators before the 90 to 9 vote as a thoughtful and learned student of the law--although one whose views on the abortion issue remain unknown.

“He is a most impressive man. He is going to make us all proud,” said Sen. Alan K. Simpson (R-Wyo.).

The no votes were cast by Sens. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.), Alan Cranston (D-Calif.), Daniel K. Akaka (D-Hawaii), Brock Adams (D-Wash.), Bill Bradley (D-N.J.), Frank R. Lautenberg (D-N.J.), Quentin N. Burdick (D-N.D.), John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Barbara A. Mikulski (D-Md.).

President Bush’s first nominee to the high court will be sworn in next Tuesday, in time to hear a key sex discrimination case: On Wednesday, the justices will hear arguments on whether a company can exclude all young women from its work force if job conditions could harm a fetus.

But that case will be only the first of many tests for Souter. Senators noted Tuesday that if his health remains good, the 51-year-old jurist is likely to remain seated on the court well into the second decade of the 21st Century.

He will join a court already dominated by five conservatives, including all of its youngest members. If Souter proves to be a doctrinaire conservative, the court under Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist could dramatically reshape the law on abortion, civil rights, religion and free speech.

But Souter’s generally moderate testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee last month raised the possibility that he could turn out to be a centrist justice, one who is unwilling to push the law to the right.

Most senators conceded that they have no idea how Souter will vote on the most controversial issues before the court.

“The Senate is still in the dark about this nomination,” Kennedy said. “The lesson of the past decade . . . is that we must vote our fears, not our hopes.”

But Sen. Timothy E. Wirth (D-Colo.), who attended Harvard University with Souter but did not know him, said that mutual friends convinced him to support the nominee. Reporting on a series of conversations, Wirth said that Souter was portrayed as “bright, thoughtful and idealistic . . . not partisan, not extremist and not an ideologue. This is a profile of someone I can trust.”

Sen. Paul Simon (D-Ill.) said that he was inclined to vote against Souter based on his record as a state attorney and judge in New Hampshire but changed his view after hearing him testify last month. “His testimony before our committee either shows growth . . . or it shows political dexterity,” Simon said, adding that he was convinced Souter would vote to uphold Roe vs. Wade.

Other Democrats said that Souter’s unwillingness to state support for the right to abortion was cause for voting no. “He has demanded (that) we take him on faith in this critical area of constitutional rights. That I cannot do,” Cranston said.

Sen. Pete Wilson (R-Calif.) was the only member of the Senate to miss the vote.

Souter watched the vote on television in the Concord, N.H., law office of Tom Rath, a close friend from their days in the attorney general’s office. Later at a news conference at the state Capitol, Souter told reporters: “I have been given much, and much will be expected from me in return. I will make that return to you and I will make it in the fullest measure that I can.”

During the four-hour Senate debate, Souter’s patron, Sen. Warren B. Rudman (R-N.H.), stood beaming on the Senate floor and took congratulatory handshakes from dozens of his colleagues. A well-liked member of the Senate, Rudman pushed Souter’s name before President Bush and then rounded up support among his colleagues for a man he called “one of my dearest friends.”

Several senators commented that Rudman’s backing was a “major factor” in prompting them to support Souter.

White House spokesman Marlin Fitzwater said that the President was “very pleased” with the confirmation vote. “We think Judge Souter will be an outstanding justice for many years,” Fitzwater said.

For President Bush, the Souter nomination has proved to be a political triumph. On July 20, when the court’s aging liberal leader William J. Brennan Jr. suddenly announced his retirement, Bush faced the possibility of a bitter partisan fight on the volatile issue of abortion.

Instead, the White House moved quickly to select a judge whose views, as one aide said, were “fuzzed up.” As a state court judge, Souter had not decided an abortion case. Nor had he written law articles or given speeches touching on the topic.

During his Senate testimony, Souter said that he believes the Constitution includes a “right to privacy” but noted that he had not made up his mind on whether this includes the right to choose abortion.

Only women’s rights groups, such as the National Organization for Women, the Planned Parenthood Federation and the National Abortion Rights Action League, strongly opposed Souter’s nomination.