President Clinton, who will settle on a Supreme Court candidate any time now, is expected to choose among Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt, Arkansas judge Richard Arnold and Boston judge Stephen Breyer, an official said Wednesday.
The White House official, insisting on anonymity, said Clinton's short list technically includes two other judges, Jose Cabranes of Connecticut and Amalya Kearse of New York. But the president was focusing on the threesome - all white Harvard law graduates with political backgroundsThe five finalists were candidates at one point in 1993, when Clinton surprised observers and chose Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
Clinton said Tuesday night that he hadn't talked to any potential nominees but predicted the search would end soon. Aides said Clinton does not need to interview his nominee because he knows Arnold, Babbitt and Breyer well already.
"I expect to have a decision and an announcement in the next couple of days," he said.
White House Press Secretary Dee Dee Myers said Wednesday the decision was imminent.
Breyer, a Boston appeals court judge who once worked on the Senate Judiciary Committee, re-emerged as a prospect Tuesday.
His candidacy was a well-kept secret because the White House didn't want to repeat the embarrassing 1993 spectacle, when he was named as a front-runner and brought in from his hospital bed for a high-profile presidential interview - only to be runner-up.
Breyer's chances were hurt last year by a last-minute revelation that he had failed to pay Social Security taxes for a household worker. The White House maintains, however, that the lapse had nothing to do with Clinton's decision last year, and the "nanny" issue is not as politically charged as it was a year ago.
Babbitt was a top candidate in 1993, but environmentalists wanted him to remain at Interior and Republicans feared he would legislate from the bench. The environmentalists now think Interior can run fine without him, but Republicans like Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah are still grousing about his candidacy.
"I have a lot of reservations about him (Babbitt), and I told the president that," Hatch said in an interview with the Deseret News.
"I told him a lot of Republicans and Democrats would have problems with him because of what he has done at Interior," Hatch said. "I have concerns he would be a judicial activist, someone who might substitute his own policy preferences for the law."
As senior Republican of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Hatch is lobbying hard for Breyer and, if not Breyer, Arnold. Clinton was caught off guard by opposition to Babbitt and may have to turn to Breyer if he wants to avoid a confirmation battle.
Arnold is the sentimental favorite, a much-respected appellate judge from Arkansas who has known Clinton for years. But his health has been questioned by the White House, and Clinton may not want to nominate an Arkansan when he is already facing complaints of cronyism. Hatch, perhaps as part of his opposition to Babbitt, has promised not to fight an Arnold nomination.
Arnold is liked by Clinton's key aides. The White House called at least one television network Tuesday to say he was still in the running.
Kearse, a New York appeals court judge, and Cabranes, a district judge from Connecticut, also were mentioned in 1993. Cabranes was even considered by President Bush.
Babbitt has said for weeks he was not interested in the job, but he sounded more open to the idea Tuesday. "I'll do whatever he wants," he said.