Ginsburg Promises Judicial Restraint If She Joins Court
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Judge Ruth Bader Ginsburg, President Clinton’s nominee to the Supreme Court, told the Senate Judiciary Committee today that she would be neither a conservative nor a liberal on the Court, but someone who ruled cautiously, without reaching out to write broad principles into the law. In her opening statement to the committee, which began its hearings today on the nomination, Judge Ginsburg also sought to set a clear boundary on what kind of questions she was willing to answer. She said she would not discuss specific cases or issues that might come before her. “It would be wrong for me to say or preview in this legislative chamber how I would cast my vote on questions the Supreme Court may be called upon to decide,” she said. “A judge sworn to decide impartially can offer no forecasts, no hints, for that would show not only disregard for the specifics of the particular case, it would display disdain for the entire judicial process.” [ Excerpts from testimony, page A12. ] Confirmation Appears Sure Although such unwillingness to engage in specifics has frustrated and annoyed some senators in the past, it was clear today that it will make no difference for Judge Ginsburg, who seems bound to win Senate approval easily. If confirmed as the nation’s 107th Justice, Judge Ginsburg, the 60-year-old member of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, would become the second woman on the Court, joining Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, who was sworn in in 1981. She would also be the first justice placed on the court by a Democrat in 26 years. In a colloquy with Senator Howard M. Metzenbaum, Democrat of Ohio, Judge Ginsburg noted with approval that in a case last year from Pennsylvania, the Supreme Court reaffirmed the constitutional right to abortion. But she pointedly declined to say whether she believed it was a fundamental right, a category that would mean it would be difficult for states to enact restrictions on abortion. “Now what regulations are going to be permitted is certainly a question that is going to be before this court,” she said. “And that depends in part, Senator, on the kind of record that’s presented to the court, and I don’t feel it would be appropriate for me to go beyond the point of repeating what the majority of the court has said, that this is a right of women guaranteed by the 14th Amendment.” View on Roe Defended Judge Ginsburg also defended her view, as expressed in law reviews and speeches, that Roe v. Wade, the 1973 ruling that first found a constitutional right to abortion went too far, too fast. More : query.nytimes.com |