Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, August 4, 1993 TAG: 9308040049
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: The Washington Post
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
The vote was 96-3. The three Republicans who opposed Ginsburg - Sens. Jesse Helms of North Carolina, Robert Smith of New Hampshire and Don Nickles of Oklahoma - protested her support for abortion rights. The only senator who did not vote, Donald Riegle, D-Mich., was in Michigan attending the funeral of Rep. Paul Henry, R-Mich.
"It feels wonderful," Ginsburg told reporters as she visited the Supreme Court Tuesday afternoon to begin making arrangements for her chambers there and swearing-in next Tuesday. Later, at a brief appearance with President Clinton in the Rose Garden, she deflected questions about what kind of justice she expects to be and said, "I'll do the very best I can in the job."
Clinton, who is the first Democrat in 26 years to make a high court appointment, said, "I have no doubt [she] will be a great justice." He said he expected her to move the court neither to the right nor the left, but "forward."
Clinton's nomination of Ginsburg followed a highly publicized and sometimes awkward search that had focused on, among others, New York Gov. Mario Cuomo, Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt and, even down to the wire, U.S. Appeals Court Judge Stephen G. Breyer.
But once Clinton chose Ginsburg, the appeals judge for the D.C. Circuit was embraced by senators of both parties as a "consensus" choice.
Only Helms objected to Ginsburg during the scheduled debate on Monday. "This lady, whom I have regarded as a pleasant, intellectual liberal, is, in fact, a woman whose beliefs are 180 degrees in opposition to some fundamental principles that are important not only to me but, I believe, to the majority of other Americans."
by CNB