Babbitt’s Name Echoes in Talk of Court Pick

Speculation intensified Monday that Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt would be nominated to the Supreme Court, even as President Clinton and aides insisted that Clinton is still pondering a short list of candidates.

Babbitt has talked with the President in a series of phone calls about the job in recent days, and his aides publicly speculated that he has the post all but locked up. Mary Helen Thompson, Babbitt’s press secretary, said Monday morning that talk about the Arizonan’s selection is “probably not idle,” adding that there is “a great deal” of behind-the-scenes activity to check Babbitt’s background.

But a few hours later, Clinton was cautioning reporters at a photo session that no decision had been made. “Stay tuned,” he said.

White House aides acknowledged that the search has now narrowed to several candidates, including Babbitt and Stephen G. Breyer, a judge on the 1st Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston. They said that a decision may come by the end of this week but that it could be later.

One cause of delay could be the White House desire to find a replacement for Babbitt at Interior who can at once satisfy environmentalists while not alienating Western interests. An official of one environmental group said that White House officials have begun a search for a strong replacement.

The environmental groups themselves showed a marked uneasiness at the prospect of Babbitt’s departure, fearing that it could derail federal efforts on a variety of fronts. Those include endangered species protection, rules on mining and grazing on federal lands, offshore oil drilling and forestry in the Northwest.

The National Audubon Society urged Clinton to keep Babbitt where he is. Babbitt is “the right man in the right job at the right time,” the group said in a statement.

One senior aide ruled out the chance of any dark horse candidate emerging in the late hours of the search for a new Supreme Court justice. “This won’t be a surprise,” the aide said.

Because he has spent much of his career in politics, it is far from clear how Babbitt would envision his role on the court, or what positions he would take on the primary questions facing the panel. But the 54-year-old Los Angeles native shares with Breyer a centrist’s perspective and a habit of compromise.

“If I had to describe him in two words, they would be pragmatic and moderate, said Jonathan Stone, a former Babbitt colleague now teaching at Arizona State University.

Babbitt’s record shows that he has tended to be more liberal on social issues and more toward the center on fiscal matters.

He marched in Selma, Ala., with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and championed American Indians in voting rights cases. But he also has talked of slimming government, and, during his short-lived 1988 run for the Democratic presidential nomination, he strongly stressed the need to cut the federal deficit.

During his 1988 presidential bid, his most controversial position was a call to tax all Social Security benefits for single Americans earning more than $25,000 and couples earning more than $32,000.

With Clinton, Babbitt is a founder of the centrist Democratic Leadership Council, and has described himself as a member of the “radical center.” Like Clinton, he has talked often of solutions that defy usual liberal-conservative polarities and that bring adversary groups together.

Babbitt’s admirers recall how as governor in 1980 he fought for passage of a water management plan that satisfied water-needy cities, farmers and mining companies.

This year, as Interior secretary, he has advocated a compromise on the endangered California gnatcatcher that would allow the state of California and county governments to design preserves, while also allowing development of other land without complicated federal reviews. The proposal has won him support among many developers and business people in Southern California.

When the conservative Arizona Legislature refused to adopt legislation creating a King holiday, Babbitt created the holiday by gubernatorial order. The order was rescinded by Babbitt’s successor.

During his four years as Arizona attorney general, Babbitt won a reputation as a crime fighter, particularly stressing white-collar crime. In 1988, in response to a campaign questionnaire from The Times, Babbitt said that he believed capital punishment was “just in certain circumstances.” He said he opposed making more federal crimes punishable by death.

Babbitt, a Roman Catholic, has been a strong advocate of abortion rights. As Arizona governor, he vetoed legislation requiring parental consent before a minor can receive an abortion. But he signed a bill that required parental notification before a minor’s abortion.

Babbitt was generally considered an advocate of a strong defense but has argued for streamlining the defense budget and opposed President Ronald Reagan’s Strategic Defense Initiative, also known as “Star Wars.”

Some union members in Arizona are still bitter about Babbitt’s 1983 decision to call in the National Guard to enforce an anti-strike order against workers at Phelps Dodge’s copper mines in the southern end of his state. But overall, Babbitt has been considered a friend of organized labor and some officials said that they doubt labor would speak out against his nomination.

Likewise, although some civil rights leaders have hoped that they would be given a say in the choice of a Supreme Court nominee, Babbitt’s record on the issue makes it unlikely that they would actively oppose him. “A lot of my members--on civil rights and the environment--are very high on him,” said Nan Aron, of the Alliance for Justice, a coalition of liberal legal advocacy groups.

On Clinton’s Short List

Here is background on the two apparent top candidates for the Supreme Court:

BRUCE BABBITT

* Age: 54

* Occupation: Secretary of the Interior

* Education: Bachelor’s degree from Notre Dame; master’s degree from Newcastle-upon-Tyne in England; law degree from Harvard in 1965.

* Career: Democrat governor of Arizona, 1978-87; presidential candidate in 1988; partner in a Phoenix law firm

Where he stands

* On abortion: He supports abortion rights. But he opposes government funding for the poor, except in cases of rape, incest or when the mother’s life is in danger.

* Capital punishment: As governor of Arizona, Babbitt favored capital punishment.

* Others: He’s a favorite of environmentalists, who cite his aggressive stands on Western land reforms and endangered species protection.

STEPHEN G. BREYER

* Age: 54

* Occupation: Federal judge

* Education: Bachelor’s degree from Stanford University; Marshall scholar at Oxford University; law degree from Harvard in 1964.

* Career: Law clerk for Supreme Court Justice Arthur Goldberg, 1964-65; assistant law professor at Harvard, 1967-70; assistant special prosecutor on Watergate, 1973; named to U.S. 1st Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston in 1981; appointed chief justice in 1990.

Sources: “Who’s Who in American Law,” Times wire reports

Compiled by D’Jamila Salem