Clinton, Aides Huddle Over Court Nominee : Judiciary: Concern is expressed on health issue surrounding Arnold. Cabranes’ name may be receding because groups call him too conservative.

President Clinton and some of his top advisers met Friday afternoon to consider possible Supreme Court nominees from a still-shifting list.

“We’re making progress,” Lloyd N. Cutler, White House special counsel, said after a session that lasted more than an hour. The White House is in the third week of the selection process and hopes to name a replacement for retiring Justice Harry A. Blackmun by the end of this month.

Among the key questions is one involving the health of U.S. Appeals Court Judge Richard S. Arnold, a widely respected Arkansan who battled cancer several years ago.

While Arnold’s physicians have told White House officials that he is in good health, a medical report could not guarantee that the cancer would not recur. Some officials have taken the view that unless a recurrence can be ruled out, the 58-year-old jurist is too risky a choice.

The health question is only one potential political issue involving Arnold. Some White House advisers worry that a President already besieged by charges of favoritism toward friends from Arkansas cannot afford to name a Little Rock resident to the nation’s highest court.

U.S. District Judge Jose A. Cabranes, of Connecticut, has been another front-runner. But officials say his name may be receding because some Democratic interest groups consider him too conservative. Others have said that his relatively brief tenure on the court and his meager legal writings make him a less desirable candidate.

Although the notion of appointing the first Latino justice has appeal at the White House, other top Latino candidates have yet to emerge.

Another contender is Amalya L. Kearse, a 56-year-old federal appeals court judge in New York. Kearse is reputed to have a brilliant legal mind. She is the first black woman ever to become a partner at a major New York law firm, and her nomination could gain the White House points for naming the first black woman to the court.

In judicial philosophy, she is not a traditional liberal, but more in the mold of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Clinton’s first high court appointee. For that reason, she also might appeal to the President’s centrist instincts.

Yet Kearse could draw fire from some Latino and Asian American interest groups, who may feel slighted if a second black jurist were added to the court. Latinos’ expectations in particular have been raised by talk that the White House is interested in selecting a candidate from their increasingly influential political group.

The choice of Kearse also would come at the expense of the White House’s desire to put a political figure, rather than a jurist, on the court.

Clinton and aides have both argued that recent choices have leaned too heavily toward candidates who have impeccable legal credentials but lack the kind of world view that experienced politicians can bring.