Timing on court nominee called key

WASHINGTON -- Republican activists are warning President Bush to consider timing when naming a Supreme Court nominee, fearing a reprisal of the 1987 Robert Bork and 1991 Clarence Thomas fights, when Democrats spent 2 1/2 months attacking the nominees while they waited for hearings to begin in mid-September.

Bush, speaking to reporters yesterday in Copenhagen, said he would work with the Senate to assure that there is a reasonable timetable between the announcement of the nominee and a confirmation vote.

''I want the person confirmed and sitting by the time the court meets again in October," Bush said. ''That's the backstop, and we'll work backwards to determine what is best for the Senate calendar to get the hearing and to get the vote, up or down, on the floor of the Senate."

The question of timing has implications beyond the Supreme Court, as most lawmakers acknowledge that no other major issues are likely to be addressed until the nomination is resolved. Bush is already behind in his agenda, with such contentious issues as energy and Social Security stalled in Congress.

But sources close to the White House also fear the August recess, a notorious dead spot in the Washington calendar that is often filled with echoes of scandal or controversy. Last year, allegations about Senator John Kerry's swift boat service in Vietnam filled the vacuum. In 2001, it was the missing intern who had had an affair with former Representative Gary Condit.

Liberal opponents of Bork and Thomas made particular use of that news hole during those confirmation fights, both of which have been marked in conservatives' minds as disasters -- even though Thomas, unlike Bork, ultimately prevailed.

In both 1987 and 1991, opponents unleashed attacks when most Republicans were on vacation and unable to mount an effective public relations defense. In Thomas's case, the attacks on his conservative philosophy were later overshadowed by allegations that he had sexually harassed a female colleague.

Some Republican leaders -- including religious-right leader Gary Bauer, who chaired the Citizens Committee to Confirm Clarence Thomas -- are warning that this time around, the White House must not allow Democrats to use the August recess to launch unanswered attacks on the nominee, who by tradition must wait until the hearings to respond.

''The administration needs to have an operation in place during recess to counter attempts by the opponents to form the public image of who that nominee is," Bauer said. ''You can't, in our mass media culture, leave charges made and unresponded to -- particularly in the summer because if there's not a lot of other news, people may form their opinions by the time the August recess is over."

Although Bush hinted it will be several weeks before he is ready to disclose his choice, the White House is already putting together its confirmation fight team.

Press secretary Scott McClellan announced yesterday that Bush has named former Senator Fred Thompson, a Tennessee Republican and television actor, to guide the nominee through the Senate process. Ed Gillespie, former Republican National Committee chairman, will help with strategy, lobbying, and media relations. Republicans may also be able to speed up the process because they hold a majority, unlike during the Bork and Thomas fights. Because their party controls the Senate calendar, they can reject opponents' calls for a delay to allow further study of any controversial aspects of the nominee's record.

But Nan Aron, president of the liberal Alliance for Justice, warned that supporters of the White House could provoke a backlash if they try to rush a nomination through, especially because retiring Justice Sandra Day O'Connor said she will stay until her replacement is confirmed.

''It's likely that the senators would object to the placement of strict time limits on investigations and hearings because it's imperative that the senators have all the information at their disposal before voting," Aron said. ''I think there would be substantial resistance to the White House's efforts to ram through the nomination to a lifetime position on the highest court on the land."

Moreover, there is a limit to how much Republicans can speed up the process.

Senate Judiciary Committee staff said the average time from the naming of a nominee to a confirmation vote has been about 10 weeks in recent decades. With that kind of lead-in time required for investigations and background checks, Bush must name his choice by the end of July to get an up-or-down vote by October.

Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Arlen Specter, Republican of Pennsylvania, signaled he wants to begin hearings in early September, but has left the door open to August hearings if preliminary investigations are completed early.

Republicans would be shrewd to get through that process quickly, said Bruce Buchanan, a professor of government at the University of Texas at Austin.

''You make a nominee very vulnerable when you put him out there at any other than the last possible moment before the time for hearings is upon us," Buchanan said. ''The record is clear that people like Bork, who have swung in the wind that long, have not only gone through personal anguish, but also find themselves more likely to be compromised as nominees."