European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - January 1, 1988, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Friday. January 1,1988 the stars and stripes Page 3 judges follow Reagan s philosophy 320 on Federal benches his appointees Washington a president Reagan lost Robert ii. Bork s supreme court nomination hut the hundreds or judges he has placed on Federal benches around the nation appear to be carrying out his conservative philosophy. The 320 Reagan appointees now serv ing comprise 45 percent of the nation s 76 full time Federal judges and the percentage could pass 50 by the end of his second term if enough vacancies occur. John Powell National Legal director for the american civil liberties Union said the Reagan appointees arc taking the conservative Side in cases involving civil rights civil liberties the death pen Alty sex discrimination and improperly seized evidence. And a study published by the Colum Bia University Law. Review concluded that judges appointed by Reagan and other gop adminis iranians usually Lake the conservative View of cases while democrats usually take the Liberal Side. The study found however that in cases involving Tarsi amendment free Doms government benefits discrimination and administrative regulations Rea Gan appointees were even More conservative than judges appointed by other gop presidents. Powell said Reagan s Impact on the courts has become so great in Sorn appellate circuits thai 1c Acle has avoided Federal pm is in certain cases and filed suits in state courts. Circuits that had the reputation of being Good circuits for civil rights and civil liberties Are at Best questionable said the new Volt based Powell. You Sec Many More splits eases where the appellate courts hand Down split Deci Sions but Stephen j. Markman. Head of the Justice department s office of Lega counsel said in an interview it s too Early to discern an trends. We do feel the people we re putting on the Bench by and Large Salisky the expectations of judges who will loot closely to the Constitution. We re not looking for result oriented judges. We re looking for judges that Lake the Constitution As Given to them and abide by the Constitution whatever their personal  the Reagan administration has been accused by Liberal organizations and democrats in Congress of generally avoiding selection of women and Minori ties and of choosing conservative ideologues who must answer litmus test questions on abortion school prayer affirmative action and other social is sues. Justice department figures show that pm photo judge Robert ii. Bork. Only Bork was Defeated 29 of the 325 Reagan selections five Are no longer serving were women 13 were hispanics and five were Blacks. A Justice department paper prepared by Markman denied use of litmus tests and allegations of discrimination against women or minorities. There is no questioning whatsoever of candidates on their personal views on the morality or desirability of such sin Gle issues As abortion prayer busing or any other alleged litmus lest Issue the paper said. Candidates who evidence desire to impose the administration s policies Fryni the Bench without a War rant in the Law arc not  the paper accused the democratic Carter administration of using litmus tests on the equal rights amendment affirmative action first amendment freedoms and defendants rights. The paper said Reagan s record on women and minorities is better than that of the Republican Ford and Nixon administrations and the democratic John son administration while lagging be Hind Carter. Reagan s numbers on women and minority appointments Are lower than car Ter a the paper said because of differences in philosophy and this administration s unwillingness to com Promise on a candidate s qualifications for the Sake of  the Columbia study published last May. Said Public focus upon a few controversial nominations. May have led to an incorrect generalization that All of Fite photo Justice Sandra Day o Connor. A More centrist position president Reagan s appointees arc  the record of the democratic con trolled Senate in 1987 appears to support that conclusion. Forty eight judges were confirmed and Only Bork was Defeated mainly because of his rigid conserva Tive ideology. However. 32 nominees Are pending before the judiciary committee and some of them have been held up for months because they Are controversial. As illustrations of Reagan s Impact on the courts the Acle s Powell cited a sex discrimination Case and a death pen Alty ruling. He said a suit brought to gain admission of women in rotary clubs was initially filed in state court in los Angeles because plaintiffs feared getting an unfavourable panel on the 9th . Circuit court of appeals. In the 1960s and 1970s, we would have brought that Case in Federal court Powell said. The plaintiffs won in California but the Case ended up in the . Supreme court on Appeal. The High court ruled 7 0 last May 4 that states through their Public accommodations Laws May Force rotary International to admit women a members. While the two Reagan appointees to the court Sandra Day o Connor and Antonin Scalia backed the Liberal position in the rotary Case they voted with Reagan s position in favor of the death penalty. Justice Antonin Scalia. Solidly conservative Vole Powell said the supreme court s 5-4 decision upholding Georgia s death pen Alty last april was a Case we would Nave won under the Warren  the High court said state death Penally Laws can be valid even if statistics Indi Cate they arc carried out in racially biased ways. Studies presented in the Case showed killers of while people in Georgia were far More Likely to be condemned to death than those who killed Blacks. Scalia gives the supreme court one More solidly conservative Vole in Crimi Nal Law and most civil rights cases. O Connor has moved somewhat froma solidly conservative vote to a More centrist position on the generally conservative court. She can be counted on to Side with the conservatives in criminal Law cases but often has joined the Liberal sin civil rights cases. For example when the court ruled 7-2 last june that states May not require teaching of creationism to balance the teaching of evolution in Public schools. Scalia dissented. O Connor joined the majority. And she was with the majority in a 6-3 decision last March that upheld an affirmative action plan for promoting women. Scalia dissented. In assessing the lower courts the co Lumbia study said gop appointees including Reagan judges voted for the lib eral party in All Issue categories barely half As often As did democratic judges. Re publicans were particularly hostile to the claims of criminal  mailman of 60 years just keeps on truck a Pittsfield. Mass. A Nei ther rain nor sleet nor the ruffled feel Ings of postal service bureaucrats who tried to get him to follow the rules have kept Stanley t. Bator from trucking the mail through the Berkshire Hills for the past 60 years. I am my own Man said Bator 87. Who still occasionally takes the wheel of one of his trucks although most of the driving on his Star routes is now handled by his sons and grandchildren. That in t the half of it Sai Pittsfield postmaster Paul Matthews. All of our Independent contractors Are pretty Independent but there s no one like him. He s kind of a legend in the  although he s now Cut Back to two routes. Bator for decades hauled the mail under contract to every Rural Post office in the county. He s driven through Blip Zards and tossed Down planks to Ford swollen streams in Spring floods. The worst i remember was one night when it was 40 below Zero at the Pittsfield Railroad station and i was the Only truck to get out but there Uherc a lot of nights that i slept on a Dick in the Pittsfield Post office. I always got the mail to the Post office but sometimes i could t gel myself Home afterwards Bator said. In the springtime i be had to build my own Bridges he said. Over the past six decades Bator said he s Learned that sometimes it s Best to avoid the main office. It took Matthews and William r. Ayers regional manager for transportation sen ices several weeks to Corral Bator Long enough to present him with a plaque and letter from . Postmas Ter general Preston r. Tisch com mending him on his 60 years of Scricc. They kept calling and leaving Mes sages at the House and i just ignored  Bator said. Finally they got hold of my son and he got me to go Down to the Pittsfield Post office where they had this Nice presentation. I did t think they were going to fire me but i just did t know what was going  his run ins with some of the More enthusiastic memo writers in the postal service have become legend including one with a bureaucrat who tried to Ciack Down on Bator s casual Altitude toward minor regulations such As a ban on holding two Post office jobs. He was one of these Fellows who think they Are the Boss Bator recalled. I d get these Fri cups. But i d never open  finally the postmaster ordered him to report in person i told him i did t know anything about it. So he went and looked in my Box and it was full of these Fri cups Bator said. But Noth ing came of it. I just asked the postmas Ter whether he wanted some crazy stuff or the mail delivered. And in All the years i be been at it i be never missed Day or a delivery1." he has t  said Ayers. He is one of inc most conscientious people we  Bator s son worked As a clerk Carrierie the Post office. He s just retired to Florida after 38 years with the Post office Bator  me. I can t retire. I still have a lol of work to