White House officials are reviewing about a dozen possible candidates for President Clinton's second appointment to the Supreme Court, making no secret of the fact that retiring Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell is high on the list.
Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt also is on the list, even though he said he wasn't interested and had told Clinton he wanted to stay put.Mitchell, D-Maine, and Babbitt were the only candidates publicly acknowledged as under consideration, but White House officials insisted that the list was longer.
It was no surprise to Clinton when Justice Harry A. Blackmun announced Wednesday that he was retiring. The 85-year-old jurist had told the president months ago that he would retire. Blackmun called the White House on Monday to say he was ready to announce his decision publicly.
There was a torrent of speculation about Blackmun's successor. Likely candidates were said to include federal judges Stephen G. Breyer of Boston, Jose A. Cabranes of Connecticut and Appeals Judge Richard Arnold of Little Rock, Ark.
Attorney General Janet Reno and Solicitor General Drew Days also were mentioned. One official floated the name of U.S. District Judge Ann Clair Williams of Illinois as a long-shot prospect. She was named to the bench by Ronald Reagan in 1985.
Preliminary work on Blackmun's successor already had been under way because of anticipation of his retirement. The search goes into high gear, starting from a base of names compiled last year when Justice Byron White left the court.
White House special counsel Lloyd Cutler said, "There are other people who deserve consideration who were not seriously in the running the last time around." He said the eventual list would be 10 to 12, "more or less."
Cutler, leading the search with Mack McLarty, the chief of staff, said he expected Clinton to announce his nominee within "a matter of weeks."
"He will pick someone who generally reflects his sense of political and moral values," Cutler said. "Every president does that."
He said candidates would be judged on the basis of ability, diversity and character. Moreover, Cutler said, "As you know, in the past (Clinton) has been attracted by people who have had some sort of political or other life experience in addition to being a good lawyer."
Administration officials made clear they did not want a repeat of last year's highly public, three-month search that resulted in the selection of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Clinton said he would select a nominee "of genuine stature" in "an appropriate and timely fashion."
While Mitchell was viewed as perhaps the top prospect, there are political and legal problems with his selection.
The administration is counting on Mitchell to lead the fight for Clinton's health reform plan. And from a legal standpoint, the Constitution bars lawmakers from taking a government position whose salary has been raised by Congress while they were members.
Cutler was quick to say he was confident that a solution could be found around the legal roadblock, should Clinton decide on a member of Congress. He volunteered that seven senators have served on the high court. Treasury Secretary Lloyd Bentsen got around the provision when he left the Senate by taking a lower salary than other Cabinet members.
Mitchell said he had not received an offer but would certainly consider one.
As a former judge, Mitchell would bring to the court a reputation both as a leader and a consensus-builder. He announced last month that he will not run for re-election in November.
Babbitt had been among those considered to succeed White. Environmentalists had pleaded with Clinton last year not to take Babbitt from Interior but dropped their case as they grew less enthusiastic about his decisions.
Breyer, an appeals court justice, was a runner-up to Ginsburg. Clinton said he'd be considered again.
Cabranes, a U.S. district judge, would be the first Hispanic on the high court, scoring political points for Clinton with the growing number of Hispanic voters.