European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - July 31, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 10 a the stars and stripes tuesday july 31,1990richard Carelli Furre. It t \ 1 a Floc Ujj Fern Van Souter could be key vote in significant cases supreme court nominee David h. Souter if confirmed could provide key votes on such issues As abortion counselling fetal Protection and school desegregation in the 1990-91 court term that begins oct. 1. The court could be closely divided on those and other issues already docketed for decision and sout Eros views on them Are a mystery. Legal scholars and lawyers following the cases say retired Justice William j. Brennan a votes would have been predictably Liberal. The Book on Souter he a a conservative. The big question How conservative a a we re going from a known Quantity in Brennan to an unknown a a said Clarke Forsythe general counsel of americans United for life an anti abortion group closely watching the abortion counselling and fetal pro Toction cases before the court. At Issue in the first Are Federal regulations that bar government financed family planning centers from counselling women about abortion the regulations Are being attacked As alleged violations of free speech and abortion rights. The so called title x program gives about $200 million a year to some 4,000 clinics nationwide that serve about 5 million Low income women. Forsythe who wants the court to uphold the regulations says he expects justices Thurgood Marshall Harry a. Blackmun and John Paul Stevens a the courts three most Liberal members a to vote to strike them Down. He said he hoped the courts conservative bloc a chief Justice William h. Rehnquist and justices Byron r. White Sandra Day of Connor Antonin Scalia and Anthony m. Kennedy a will unite to say the regulations Are valid. A a it a not an easy Case and Souter could play a key role a Forsythe said. The second Case could affect millions of working women. The court must decide whether employers May exclude All women of childbearing age from some hazardous but comparatively High paying jobs to protect their fetuses. At Issue is a car Battery manufacturers policy of Banning women who cannot prove they Are infertile from jobs that expose them to Lead. A Justice Brennan will be missed in both the workplace Case and the title x Case a said Patricia Ireland of the National organization for women. A the would have found the fetal Protection policy to be offensive and inappropriate in that it ignores what exposure to Lead does to menus reproductive sys tems. And he had a great history of respect for Freedom of speech and women a rights Quot Ireland said. Susan Ross of the sex discrimination Center at Georgetown University a Law school said the outcome of the fetal Protection Case could hinge on Souter. Andrew j. Glass Ngam Isi Wywa Kew guv / a we have reason to Hope that Blackmun Marshall and Stevens will be with us and we think of Connor probably will be with us a Ross said. A we done to have much Hope of picking up Rehnquist Kennedy or Scalia. Perhaps White will vote against the policy but in a not optimistic. Its possible the outcome could depend on  added a Souter Hasni to had to Deal with employ ment discrimination matters. It s very difficult to fathom where head come  the court also must decide whether Public school districts May abandon the forced busing of students after achieving racial balance in their schools if such a move would Lead to desegregation. The ruling in an Oklahoma City Case could be enormously important for the hundreds of school districts including those in most major cities under court ordered busing plans for racial desegregation. A i would suspect Justice Brennan would not have been on our Side in this one a said William Pendley of the conservative Mountain states Legal foundation. A this absence from the Case is a positive step but Souter would be a question  it even american business is Busy assessing the Impact of Brennan a exit and Souter pos sible Entrance most immediately in the controversy Over the sky Rock Vanilla eting awards won in personal injury lawsuits Ana owner cases. At Issue in a Case the court has under study is whether such awards can go so High they become unconstitutional. The justices last year said whopping awards never can violate the constitutions ban on excessive fines but it left unanswered whether they might violate due process rights. A this is a big one and we generally knew where Justice Brennan was coming from a said Jan Amundson general counsel of the National association of manufacturers. A the Wasny to always anti business. But Souter is an unknown. We re optimistic but  the court began its summer recess last month with 54 cases already scheduled for argument and decision in the coming term. The justices Likely will add 80 to 90 cases to that docket through next Winter Quot next year at this time i  be surprised to count 15 or 20 decisions that would have gone the other Way had Brennan still been on the court Northwestern University Law professor Lawrence Marshall said. Others Are More interested in which a not How Many a cases will fall into that category. The associated press Senate must ask Souter the burning question arly four million Macri. Urpo Ninf half Era Ana 1c in a u to i. A _. Nearly four million americans will be bom this year a fifth of them to unmarried women. More than a million and a half pregnancies will be aborted this year a Quarter of them by teen age girls. You need not be a supreme court Justice to see the risks that such statistics pose to . Society. The Battle Over abortion rights which divides the country and threatens to consume future supreme court nominees also serves to mask the real problem. Some adult unwed females rationally decide that they want to have a child while remaining uninvolved with their child s father. That a Fine. Sociological studies show that in a Loving Home such offspring reared by devoted mothers have a fair Chance of leading successful lives. But most of the 800,000 american children to be bom this year to single mothers will be bom poor and will stay that Way. If they Are girls they have pregnant before age 15. If they Are boys they have one Chance in three of being in trouble with the Law As juveniles. Children should not have to have children. But it is not that simple. For some female teen agers motherhood acts As an affirmation of self however unprepared they May be to care for an offspring. For some male teen agers having sex for the purpose of impregnating their partners serves As a tribal confirmation of adulthood. Yet society As a whole must pay for these adolescent rites of passage. So society has a stake in regulating them. Minnesota an enlightened state passed a Law requiring adolescents to inform both parents before getting an abortion. At its last sitting the supreme court on a 5-4 vote declared that Law to be unconstitutional. \ yet another Minnesota statute permits minors to bypass parental permission by obtaining the consent of a judge. The court upheld that Law also by a 5-4 mar it a a Inai Yawt Iii a u better than even Chance of also becoming Gin As constitutionally valid. The swing vote in each Case belonged to Justice Sandra Day of Connor. She justified her stand in narrow terms rather than under the Broad constitutional umbrella of Roe is. Wade the abortion rights ruling that has been in Force since 1973. Of Connor held that the judicial consent option was needed because teenagers from broken Homes would be spared the onus of having to find Absen tee parents. Those borderline rulings in which the vote cast by Justice William j. Brennen or. Was essential set the stage for coming Senate interrogation of his proposed sue Cessor judge David h. Souter of the . 1st circuit court of appeals. Some males rationally reach the age of 50 without Ever marrying or having Chil y make up about 5 percent of All american men. Judge Souter is one of them. In nominating Souter to the nations higher tribunal president Bush pro blessed that he never once asked him whether he thought a woman had a constitutional right to an abortion. What is More the president implied that members of the Senate judiciary committee would be Well advised not to ask him either. The notion is preposterous. It is True that whichever Way the nominee responds he is Apt to lose support. Clearly standing mute on the issues enhances his chances of being speedily confirmed. So the Odds Are that he wont say a it is ludicrous for a president or for Congress or for the people at Large to expect the supreme court to solve the abortion  will he answer that a nation which ends nearly 30 percent of All conceptions in abortion needs to take a hard look at its social policies might he respond that a nation that allows Rich people to halt pregnancies at will but denies the poor the same right needs to re examine the meaning of a equal Justice under the Law a c Cox Newt service