US lawmakers crystalized the debate over the replacement of a retiring Supreme Court judge yesterday, making clear that a hard-line conservative would trigger a furious political battle that could touch off a stalling tactic by Democrats.
Justice Sandra Day O'Connor announced her retirement this week. The top US court has nine justices, who hold their posts for life. The president chooses a judge to fill a vacancy, but the nominee must be approved by the Senate.
The partisan division in the Senate emerged amid a conservative lobbying campaign against one possible pick, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, a longtime Texas friend of President George W. Bush who is considered too moderate by right-wing Republicans.
"I don't think the social conservatives ought to prejudge Attorney General Gonzales. Attorney General Gonzales may not even be in the picture," Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter, a Republican, said on ABC television.
Specter said he thinks Bush will consider "the gender factor" in making a selection, and the fact that retiring O'Connor was a pivotal swing vote.
However, it is unclear what the president will consider.
Bush has said in the past that conservative Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas are the kind of people he admires on the Supreme Court.
Bush was at the presidential retreat, Camp David, mulling over his options, while Democratic Senators Charles Schumer was urging a summit between senators from both parties and the president.
Asked whether he would support a filibuster -- a protracted debate intended to stall action -- if a hard-liner is chosen, the judiciary committee's ranking Democrat, Senator Patrick Leahy, said, "I would hope that we don't reach that point."
"That's why we're going to meet with the president in about a week, going to urge that he put somebody who would unite the country, not divide the country," said Leahy, who was appearing on NBC television.
"I have no intention of filibustering, but it depends on who the president sends," said Democratic Senator Joseph Biden told CBS.
On ABC, Democratic Senator Edward Kennedy jumped in to answer a question intended for Specter, prompting Specter to joke, "I heard the filibuster starting a little early."
With Republicans holding power in the White House and Congress, conservatives see the Supreme Court as the final obstacle to control of all branches of the federal government. Liberals say that given O'Connor's swing position on the court, Bush must choose a consensus conservative -- a move that would risk alienating the president's far-right base but would avoid a political war.
Still a powerful memory for the Senate is the 18-year-old fight that ended in defeat for Republican Supreme Court nominee Robert Bork, who was seen as too extreme in his conservative views.
"I wish we could drop these political terms for the court because the court is all too political now," Bork said on CNN.
Meanwhile, Gonzales deflected questions about his interest in the Supreme Court.
"Many of the people speaking probably don't have all the information about prospective nominees. What's important is what the president of the United States thinks about me," he said. "That's evident by the position he has asked me to fill."
Gonzales will help screen nominees even though he is widely thought to be under consideration by Bush to replace O'Connor.
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