Grumbling Grows as Babbitt Considered for High Court : Judiciary: Conservatives object to some of his views. Environmentalists object to moving him from Interior. Clinton may turn to safer-bet judge.

Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt’s prospects as a Supreme Court nominee ran into some resistance Tuesday as conservatives began voicing reservations about his views and some environmentalists pressured the White House to keep Babbitt in his current post.

Neither snag seemed necessarily damaging. But some analysts speculated that they could lead a trouble-weary White House to turn to Stephen G. Breyer, the federal appeals court judge whose possible selection for the court has drawn barely a whisper of criticism since it was first proposed in March.

Sen. Orrin G. Hatch of Utah, the ranking Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, said he is concerned that Babbitt’s history as a political leader and environmental advocate suggests he could be a judicial activist.

“He could turn out to be someone who would place his visceral beliefs into the law, rather than simply interpreting statutes as others have written them,” Hatch said in an interview. He said that, while a Breyer nomination would sail through the Senate, Babbitt’s might be “more difficult” because of his liberal views on such issues as abortion and because of environmental stands that have made him enemies.

“The problem with picking a political figure is that every enemy comes out of the woodwork,” he said. Hatch suggested that Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. (D-Del.), chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, is unlikely to “let any allegation go uninvestigated” because of criticisms of the way that panel handled the 1991 confirmation hearings on Clarence Thomas, the newest member of the Supreme Court.

Senate Minority Leader Bob Dole (R-Kan.) called Babbitt a “good and decent person.” But he said his office is now poring over Babbitt’s writings.

“We always have concerns about what people may have written,” Dole said. “You remember Robert Bork?” he added, referring to President Ronald Reagan’s nominee who was not confirmed because of the strong conservative views embodied in his academic writings.

Babbitt began to draw fire Tuesday from conservative advocacy groups such as the Free Congress Foundation and the National Center for Public Policy Research. They took issue with some blunt statements he has made as an environmental advocate and some actions he has taken as Interior secretary.

Tom Jipping of the Free Congress Foundation criticized Babbitt for upholding a National Park Service order that set a policy prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation in the agency’s Western region. The rule sparked debate about whether the Park Service could bar Boy Scouts from doing park volunteer work because their organization does not admit homosexuals.

Jipping contended that Babbitt upheld the rule solely by virtue of his personal conviction and not because it was consistent with U.S. law. The federal anti-discrimination statute clearly was not meant to apply to sexual orientation, Jipping said. “That’s very ominous for any public official, let alone someone who might be appointed to the Supreme Court,” he said.

White House officials rejected as groundless charges from 1977 that organized crime figures paid off Babbitt’s gambling debts. The charges, reported in the Washington Times, were investigated and found to be without merit by the FBI, the officials said. They were described by Dee Dee Myers, the White House press secretary, as “old and unfounded.”

The White House, however, was having “second thoughts” about moving Babbitt because of the difficulties of finding a suitable replacement at the Interior Department, according to a source familiar with the search. Clinton had difficulty filling the Interior job last winter and White House aides are now also concerned that the loss of Babbitt could leave them without a politician who might help them win Western states in 1996.

Vice President Al Gore, the Administration’s environmental point man, solicited recommendations Tuesday on a suitable replacement. Among the names mentioned were Robert Armstrong, an assistant Interior secretary; James Baca, director of the Bureau of Land Management; Colorado Gov. Roy Romer; Oregon Gov. Barbara Roberts and Rep. Bruce F. Vento (D-Minn.).

“They clearly understand that they need to think about two jobs,” said Dan Becker, of the Sierra Club.

Gilbert S. Merritt, the chief justice of the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals and another possible candidate for the court, met Tuesday with Bernard Nussbaum, the White House counsel. Although Merritt has ties to Gore, some people close to the search believe that his chances are not as strong as those of Babbitt or Breyer.

Merritt has come under criticism from the World Jewish Congress for his handling of the cases of John Demjanjuk, an accused Nazi death camp official, and Leonid Petkiewytsch, an accused concentration camp guard.

White House aides are also leery of an old charge that Merritt interfered with an FBI investigation by passing on to a friend information about an inquiry into the activities of Nashville Sheriff Lafayette (Fate) Thomas. The charge stems from a 1988 incident in which Merritt told former Nashville Tennessean publisher John Seigenthaler about the investigation. A judicial review panel issued an opinion last December clearing Merritt of any wrongdoing.

Breyer’s candidacy grew a stitch more complicated over the weekend when he was injured when struck by a car while bicycling in the Boston area. He is expected to remain in a Cambridge hospital for several more days recovering from two broken ribs and a punctured lung.

The accident could stretch out the nominating process because Breyer has yet to meet face-to-face with Clinton and presumably cannot do so until he is well enough to travel.