Senate panel split

Press, 24 September 1987, Page 6

Senate panel split

NZPA-Reuter Washington Members of the United States Senate Judiciary Committee remain split over the controversial nomination of Robert Bork to the Supreme Court after a week of hearings and with at least another week to go. The 14-member committee appears to be split 5-5 with four members undecided over Judge Bork, whose opponents believe he could vote to reverse major decisions on civil liberties if he is confirmed as a Supreme Court justice. Supporters of the conservative Judge Bork say he is exceptionally well qualified for the Supreme Court. “It’s clear that this nomination is hanging in the balance,” the committee chairman, Joseph Biden, said at Tuesday's hearings. The Delaware Demo-

crat said he hoped the committee could finish the hearings and vote on the nomination by October 1. But he said the vote could be delayed several days unless the questioning of witnesses was limited. About 65 witnesses remain to testify either for or against Judge Bork, aged 60, a United States Appeals Court judge, including former Chief Justice Warren Burger, who is scheduled to appear today and speak in his favour. The committee could send Judge Bork’s nomination to the full Senate with a favourable or unfavourable recommendation or without recommendation. A Harvard University law professor, Laurence Tribe, a noted constitu-tional-law expert, told the committee on Tuesday that Judge Bork’s deci-

sions and articles over the last two decades indicated that he had a narrow view of what individual rights and liberties were protected by the Constitution. Judge Bork, in five days of testimony last week, said he believed in judicial restraint but did not think the Constitution provided specific protection for individual privacy rights. “I have high regard for Judge Bork’s intellect and have no reason to doubt his character. I nonetheless have grave reservations about his nomination as a justice,” Professor Tribe said. Lloyd Cutler, a Democrat who served as White House counsel for President Jimmy Carter, endorsed Judge Bork. “I appraise Judge Bork as a conservative jurist who is closer to the centre than to the extreme right,” Mr Cutler said.