European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - October 29, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Tuesday october 29, 1991 the stars and stripes a Page 13 i a. A commentary Walter Mear Sheat s off confirmation hearings a for now whatever the Senate and the White House decide to do about the system for confirming supreme court justices and nearly 900 other Federal appointees there a one change they can to make the process cannot be divorced from politics. Nor should it be. As the chairman of the committee that struggled through the mishandled Clarence Thomas Case observed the system May be Lousy but nobody Ever devised a better one. There will be some Post Thomas reforms. Chastened by the Adverse Public reaction to the televised hearings on sex harassment charges levelled and then leaked against Thomas the Senate will Settle on some changes in the system. But there also will be a next time another explosion Over another nominee perhaps not As seamy or sensational As the confrontation of Clarence Thomas and Anita Hill but with stakes As High. Tinkering with the process wont change that. Its been tried. More than a decade ago after disputes involving Cabinet confirmations democrats said there ought to be a Law requiring that fitness reports on nominees go automatically to the Senate not Only to the White House. There also was a proposal to set up a new politically Independent Senate Agency to Deal with major nominations. When the controversies died so did the reforms. In the Thomas aftermath democrats demanded an Opportunity to provide More advice to the Republican White House before they Are asked for consent on nominations. Offering his Reform ideas along with a political sting for the democratic Congress president Bush said thursday that he tries to consult and welcomes advice. But that would be a Courtesy not a commitment. A a. 1 will not give a group of senators veto Power Over a nominee a Bush said. A a. I will not surrender presidential authority or Powers any More than Congress will surrender its  during the Thomas hearings Bush had said there was no problem with the system by which he chose nominees. A your process is Fine because we be selected a very very Good Man a he said then. The democrats say that Bush bears part of the blame that he raised credibility questions when he insisted that Thomas was the person most qualified to go on the court and that race had nothing to do with his nomination of a conservative Black Man. They argue that Thomas and his advisers made things worse by dodging Senate questions about policy and philosophy at his initial hearings to the Point of insisting that he had no personal View on the right to abortion and Hadnot discussed the matter even in private. At the harassment hearing Thomas denied the accusation saying it had been concocted by interests opposing him and adding that it would have been Fine with him had people tried to Block him because of his views or because they did no to like the conservative trend on the court. In the initial hearings republicans had insisted that was not fair game and that qualifications not philosophy were the proper question. Bush a proposed changes in the process concentrated on disciplining the Senate and include new strictures on the handling of Fri reports on nominees. From now on Bush said Only senators can read them and Only in the presence of Fri agents. A no Fri reports will stay on Capitol Hill a he said. Bush said the Senate should have a special prosecutor find out a who leaked what and for what reasons in the Thomas Case and report by Jan. 3. That echoes a Republican proposal. The democratic majority is broadening the inquiry to cover other leaks including those that dam aged democrats in the Keating five investigation. The president coupled that with a Call for action by the end of the year to eliminate Congress exemptions from employment discrimination and other Laws it passes for everyone else saying that has made Congress into a a privileged class of rulers who stand above the  that sounded like a tryout for a 1992 Campaign line Republican president is. Democratic Congress. Senate democrats have four committee chairmen looking at confirmation Reform with recommendations due by the end of the year on such questions As Public is. Private hearings Early warning systems on charges that get personal and other Steps that might turn Down the heat of the Thomas Case. At least until another confrontation that turns it up again. C the associated press William f. Buckley  hearings a lesson in humiliation for All it is sheer coincidence but 1 happen to know someone who has worked Side by Side with Clarence Thomas since he became a judge and this Friend of incorruptible standards confided in me just Days before the Anita Hill scandal broke that Thomas was a Man who radiated integrity and judicial insight. A you would  recognize the Clarence Thomas i know from his appearance before the Senate judiciary committee a he  the other hand we had every reason to expect that the Thomas who would appear before the committee would be a contrivance of his handlers beginning with president Bush. Bush launched the charade by saying that he had picked the person a Best qualified to serve on the court. To begin with there is no Way to discover the person Best qualified to serve on the court. This is not a Tennis match at Wimbledon where the Best qualified contestant simply wins and then the president said that Thomas race had nothing at All to do with his selection a statement which if Bush had there and then been strapped Down to a polygraph would have catapulted the quivering Needles of the machine out of sight. No wonder then that when Thomas appeared before the committee after six weeks of grooming by White House procrustes Aizers he sounded like a trained fool. He had a a never discussed Roe is. Wade with anybody since its enunciation in 1973, which Tor a lawyer is rather on the order of saying he had never heard that John f. Kennedy had been shot in Dallas. And when the subject of natural Law arose he made it sound As though it were a game people played from time to time like scrabble. It was the dirty design of Senate leftist ideologues to discover How Thomas would probably Rule on issues that Are supposed to be confronted by a Man sworn to interpret the Constitution and the Laws not to rewrite either. And this predisposition of contemporary Senate judiciary committees brings out recesses of vacuous Ness in supreme court nominees who get beaten if they speak their mind like Robert Bork and get approved if they give out the impression that they have no mind like David Souter. The lineup on Thomas was roughly what one might expect of a Black candidate who had vigorously disapproved of racial preferences and was destined to win by a slim majority because enough senators Are still inclined to Honor the constitutional prerogative of the president to name members to the court. Along came Hill. Her charges raised several questions most of them unexamined. Unless i missed it no senator examining Hill said to her a professor assuming that everything you say is Correct does it follow that Clarence Thomas is disqualified from serving As a supreme court Justice a she might have begged the question by saying a no but his perjury about what happened does disqualify  but the senator could have come Back by saying a suppose that he had admitted having said to you what you recite a if Hill had then said that obscene passes by a Man to a woman disqualified someone from honorable service on the court the interrogator might have gone on to say Quot Why is sexual effrontery disqualifying for a member of the court but not for a member of the Senate or a president of the United states a i done to know what Hill would have answered to that question. But the interrogator could have gone on to say a is senator Ted Kennedy in your judgment qualified to vote on legislation for the United states after All a supreme court Justice Isnit supposed to pass Laws and for that reason is less important under the Constitution than the legislature. If it could be established that senator Kennedy made a pass at a woman should he be kicked out a Hill might have hesitated to answer the question giving the interrogator Opportunity to press the Point. A Are you aware professor Hill of the extracurricular activities of the late Justice William o. Douglas ought he to have been confirmed or after that impeached Quot after continuing silence the interrogator might have pressed on to say Quot what about a president of the United states is he qualified to serve if he has used women in ways inconsistent with orthodox sexual convention should Grover Cleveland have been elected after the discovery of his Bastard child Warren Harding when his mistress was espied in the closet John f. Kennedy who endeavoured to beat the record of Don Juan a they were All humiliated and humiliating a Bush Thomas and Widen and his rockette. And they wonder Why Only one half of the american people bother to vote. C a reversal press Syndicate