European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - August 10, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 10 the stars and stripes sunday August 10,1986 columns George will Biden s Fate could rest on his Rehnquist vote hear the voices of moderation calling Justice Rehnquist an extremist. Joseph i Rauh jr., i Bench warming Utility infielder on one of liberalism s second division teams says Rich Nuisl does t believe in individual  sens.mcl7cnbaum and Kennedy whose liberalism is even More pronounced than the liberalism rejected by 93 slates in the last two elections arc not exactly a Lewis and Clark earn you would Send exploring to locate the american mainstream. Bui inc fellow to watch in the accusation sweepstakes is Delaware s democratic senator Joseph Biden. He is Bright and witty and can be thoughtful three things a president should be. Being president interests Biden. So watch the confirmation hearings on Rehnquist to Sec if Biden has another attribute presi Dent need judgment. Diden has a bad tendency and two positions a Sealon inc foreign relations committee and the Rale As rank ing Democrat on judiciary that give him Many opportunities to id his tendency slip is Leash. I i tendency Soto turn Public policy choices into telegenic moments of per Sona torment explaining passionately How the Nomi nation of de me As attorney general or the adm Msira lion s South Africa policy or this or that judicial nominee makes him feel troubled outraged ashamed. He has been told too often that he is a orator which he May be by the unc acting standards of the age. But like most people he has an emotional life More intensely interesting to him than to spectators. However. Biden has though hard about the Senate s responsibilities in consenting to presidential nominations in the Federal judiciary. He asked to Law professors Philip Kurland of Chicago and Laurence tribe of Harvard Kurland inclined toward conservatism trill decidedly Liberal to collaborate on u memo sketching the scope of Senaie discretion. It is indeed Insl Skeich in an almost indecipherable sentence the professor say the absence of a nominee s Lack of adherence to constitutional values should not be deemed a suffix in ground for confirmation by in insufficiency of an absence of a Lack they mean a nominee bears the Burden of dispelling doubts about his or her adherence to constitutional  but that formation is unhelpful for the same reason it is unexceptionable. It docs not clarify Whai those values Are in two speeches in the last eight months Biden has been bolder. He says the Senate must ascertain that nominee views and values fall within the Bounds of  More specifically but Noi very specifically vie says the Senate must have no doubts As to a nominee s commitment o the Bill of right or to constitutionally commanded  Andrew j. Glass j discovers scwotng1 a 1ntojrws its . Kefsbwns.,. Donn i but Learned and honorable people differ about the implications of virtually every clause of the Bill of rights and about what equalities the Constitution commands. Biden does however intimate thai the Senate would be justified in rejecting a nominee who rejects the 60-year-old incorporation  it holds that the due process guarantee of the 14th Amend ment brings stale governments under the control of the Bill of rights. The first amendment for a Sample says Congress shall make no Law. Abridging the Freedom of speech the incorporation doctrine says that binds slates too although an abstract argument can be made that the doctrine is unwise Biden s intimation is Correct the sen ate could legitimately refuse to conf run a nominee who in the face of 60 years of precedents wished to inject chaos into constitutional Law by rejecting the doctrine. Bui what application has this criterion for rejecting a nominee to do with Rehnquist none. There is no reason to suspect thai Rehnquist has a Radical Agenda of opposition to such Broad and settled principles of constitutional Law. Implicit in Biden s analysis is i think this principle the Senate cannot legitimate 1 reject a nominee merely because of his disagreement with this or that particular holding by the court As for example regarding abortion or the exclusionary Rule. Rather rejection of a nominee must turn on the nominee s rejection of a Meta principle of constitutional Law the overturning of which would unravel a Broad fabric of settled practices. But Biden has political doctrine too. M is thai Ron Ald Reagan is serving the Radical  which Aims to repeal the incorporation doctrine. Biden neglects to name any of these extremists who menace american Liberty the vacant Mare of the zealot and the Acri Dodor of burning books of dear. There he goes again Biden the precocious orator. One Way to attack Rehnquist s fitness would be to Snear him with guilt by association with a conspiracy of radicals who in the silent watches of the night dream uie death of the incorporation doctrine. Biden knows better. If he opposes Rehnquist no serious person will Lake him seriously As a presidential candidate. Reagan s drug War meeting popular approval president Reagan is staking some of his considerable prestige on a Campaign against the use of illegal drugs. This presidential drive should prove to be  show a majority of americans think the govern ment docs too Little to combat drug use. Moreover the president ducks a possible civil liberties squabble by opting against making All Federal workers take drug tests. The real risk is that inc while House Effort will prove ineffective. The feds already spend nearly 12 billion a year on Ami drug enforcement. But use of hard drugs especially cocaine continues o Rise. More ominous yet nearly half of All regular drug users Are is or younger. Since widespread consumption of  drugs unravels inc social fabric a drug epidemic could be branded As a threat to National Security. Some lawmakers who think his Way would like to enlist the Pentagon in the anti drug War. But defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger remains a reluctant recruit. In the military mind there s some thing a lad unmanly about squaring off against drug racketeers in their blacked Oul Dos and speedy Cigar Rectie boats. Such interjection missions clearly Lack the cachet of say an Exchange of rocket salvos with the soviet Fleet in the persian Gulf. But As Florida s gov. Bob Graham asks How would Washington respond if 18,000 bomb wielding terrorists sought to enter the country through its porous Southern portals some cynical types believe thai Reagan has moved because his pollsters have told him thai hard drugs arc a hot Issue and because having jumped inc Walls of the Lack a hello they have entered the suburban school Yard thus endangering his Core constituency. Even if that s so the Campaign is still a Good idea which should be and is being endorsed by people of All race Sand classes. Along with his wite. Nancy Reagan prefers to focus on the demand Side of the problem. The first lady spent an hour recently with Jack Valenti the president of inc motion picture association of America map Ping a Campaign aimed at Degl amortizing the depiction of hard drugs to films. Yet lines of cocaine Are As common among some Hollywood types As Sherry at a Tupperware Pany. If some movie stars who relax by snorting cocaine were to spend a year in the Slammer mrs. Reagan s Appeal might have More Force behind it. The self inflicted death from an overdose of co Caine of Maryland basketball Star Len Bias could chill usage. But Many High priced professional athletes will continue to resist mandatory drug testing until and unless Public revulsion leads the fans to abandon drug marred contests. Some athletes think that cocaine unlike alcohol in heightening awareness actually improves their performance. Some coaches privately concur although none would dare say so publicly As coaches know and As some athletes icam to their sorrow All drug induced highs inevitably give Way to frightful Downers they can be minimized Only by taking More drugs More frequently in More potent dosages in a self do so Euclive Cycle. Insiders believe that perhaps one in 25 players in the National football league or baseball s two major leagues Are drug addicts. Many More however consume mood changing pills such As amphetamines. Were a procedure devised to test for cocaine but to skip Over amphetamines Pete Ueberroth s problems with the players would vanish overnight Reagan was on the wrong Road in having wiped out Federal insurance benefits for drug abuse treat ments. Such unhealthful trends extend beyond government. Great corporations Are quite willing to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars in insurance costs to care for employees with say brain  they offer Only inadequate minimal psychiatric counselling the president is right however in believing that the Bucsi bet in this Battle lie in changing Public altitudes toward drugs rather than dispatching learns to the wilds of Bolivia. For the Rue enemy in the War against drugs is the Demon which lurks within us All