Biden withdraws from race

Press, 25 September 1987, Page 6

Biden withdraws from race

NZPA-Reuter Washington

Robert Bork’s Supreme Court confirmation hearings have been overshadowed, at least temporarily, by the dramatic withdrawal from the Presidential race of the senator who is leading the fight against him. Joseph Biden, a Delaware Democrat, said yesterday that he could not continue'to both campaign and preside as chairman of the Judiciary Committee hearings on Bork’s nomination.

His campaign had been faltering since he admitted last week that he had plagiarised parts of speeches from other national figures and the British Labour Party leader, Neil Kinnock.

“I have to choose between running for president and doing my job,” he told a news conference.

Mr Biden’s announce-

ment came during a break in the hearings which on Wednesday featured a strong endorsement of Bork from former Chief Justice Warren Burger, who said he knew of no one more qualified to be a Supreme Court justice. “This man is throughly qualified on every count I would consider as a senator,” Justice Burger told the committee. “I know of no person who meets those qualifications better than he does.”

He said the qualifications included integrity, judicial experience and temperament. Asked if the 60-year-old United States Appeals Court judge was the best possible candidate to fill the vacancy created when Justice Lewis Powell resigned in June, Justice Burger replied: “There are hundreds out there who would be well qualified.”