‘Wow’ Candidate for High Court Is Sought : Judiciary: So far, Clinton hasn’t found that super nominee. U.S. Judge Breyer is still at the top of the list.

One week before President Clinton is expected to name his first Supreme Court nominee, his list of top candidates continues to shift rapidly as he searches for a prospect who would be greeted by general acclaim.

Clinton “is looking for a complete ‘wow,’ ” of the kind he apparently found with Atty. Gen. Janet Reno, said one source familiar with the search. “So far, he hasn’t found one.”

One candidate who has remained at the top of the list is Judge Stephen G. Breyer of the U.S. 1st Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston, a moderate jurist and former Senate Judiciary Committee general counsel with ties on both ends of the political spectrum.

Other members of the select cast, however, keep changing. Candidates rise and fade--and then sometimes reappear.

Other names that recently have been under consideration include U.S. appeals court judges Ruth Bader Ginsburg of Washington, D.C.; Jon O. Newman of Hartford, Conn.; Stephanie Seymour of Tulsa, Okla.; and Gilbert Merritt of Nashville--as well as Utah state Supreme Court Justice Christine Durham.

Breyer, 54, may be closest to the political center and most acceptable to conservatives. Although a protege of liberal Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.), Breyer also won praise from Republican Sens. Orrin G. Hatch of Utah and Strom Thurmond of South Carolina for his work on the airline deregulation bill.

His selection thus could help Clinton avert a fractious confirmation fight at a time when his economic and health reform plans are before Congress. It also could be expected to strengthen the court’s ascendant center, since Breyer, like Newman, is considered a coalition-builder.

Breyer, nominated for the federal bench in the waning days of the Jimmy Carter Administration, was considered an expert on antitrust and regulatory law.

“I don’t want to blow his chances, but I only have good things to say about him,” said Thomas Jipping, a legal analyst for the conservative activist group Coalitions for America. As a judge, Breyer “seems to be solid, independent-minded, not driven by an ideological agenda. He would be unanimously confirmed by the Judiciary Committee,” Jipping said.

Among lawyers in New England, Breyer is praised as being quick, scholarly and nonpartisan, although a bit imperious. But Clinton’s apparent hesitation to choose him suggests he may consider him not enough of a ground-breaker.

Nonetheless, “I think the odds on him are very high now,” said a liberal activist who has close ties to the White House.

Judge Newman, a member of the U.S. 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals, is considered a more liberal, path-breaking judge and has recently appeared high on the White House list, sources said. But he was fading from contention amid criticism of a newspaper opinion article he wrote attacking Justice Clarence Thomas during his Senate confirmation hearings.

The article, challenging President George Bush’s assertion that Thomas was the best candidate for the post, has been attacked by conservative critics as violating the canons of judicial ethics. Others dispute the assertion, but the issue could make his candidacy contentious.

“It would be a messy confirmation” if Clinton choose Newman, Jipping said.

At 61, Newman’s age also might be a liability, although Clinton’s apparent first choice, New York Gov. Mario M. Cuomo--who did not want the job--is 60 years old.

Judge Merritt, 57, is the chief judge of the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati and is considered a liberal. He has close ties to Tennessee Democrats, including Vice President Al Gore. But his prospects were apparently dimming by the end of the week.

One candidate who has been considered intermittently was Seymour, 52, a judge of the U.S. 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver. A Carter appointee, she has compiled a liberal record on a relatively conservative court.

Clinton also has been reconsidering Ginsburg, 60, a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington. Although she was once an attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union, she has compiled a moderate record as a judge and recently gave a speech that criticized the legal logic of Justice Harry A. Blackmun’s opinion in Roe vs. Wade, the landmark 1973 ruling that guaranteed a woman’s right to have an abortion.