Washington » Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch believes the president has used code words indicating he wants to appoint an activist to the Supreme Court, who will push a liberal agenda.
Hatch, the longest serving Republican on the Judiciary Committee, appeared on ABC's "This Week" to discuss the impending retirement of left-leaning Justice David Souter and the politics surrounding President Barack Obama's choice for a successor.
"We all know he's going to pick a more liberal justice. Their side will make sure it is a pro-abortion justice. I don't think anybody has any illusions about that," Hatch said Sunday. "But the question is are they qualified."
Hatch zeroed in on Obama's use of the word "empathy" in describing what he will look for in a new justice.
In announcing Souter's retirement on Friday, Obama said: "I view that quality of empathy, of understanding and identifying with people's hopes and struggles, as an essential ingredient for arriving at just decisions and outcomes."
Hatch said that statement translates into a partisan on the bench instead of an impartial arbitrator.
"He should appoint somebody who will basically obey the law and not put their own policy preferences into law," Hatch said. "That is what has bothered me about some of the comments the president has made."
But Obama's description of what he will look for didn't stop with empathy. He also said he wants someone who "is dedicated to the rule of law" and "the appropriate limits of the judicial role."
Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy of Vermont came to Obama's defense, saying he had the utmost confidence that Obama, a constitutional law scholar, will make a reasoned pick.
"The president will make a good choice, just as he has with his Cabinet," said Leahy, who also appeared on the Sunday morning talk show.
It's widely expected that Obama will nominate a woman to join Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg on the bench. Leahy said he would like to see more women, more minorities and people outside of the "judicial monastery" appointed to the nation's highest court. He promised to give the president his recommendations soon.
Hatch said he would suggest some possible justices only if Obama calls him, as President Bill Clinton did in the early 1990s. According to Hatch's book Square Peg he suggested Ginsburg and Stephen Breyer, the Clinton appointees who were easily confirmed in 1993 and 1994.
Just like Clinton's selection of Ginsburg and Breyer, Obama's pick will most likely have little ideological impact on the court and that may lead to a smoother confirmation process.
Supreme Court confirmations have grown increasingly heated in recent years, taking on the shape of full-fledged political campaigns. Whoever Obama picks may be in for a daunting experience that Hatch once described as "a political gauntlet that even the most saintly would find terrifying."
Hatch will surely take a leading role on the Republican response to the Supreme Court pick, but exactly what that role will be is still uncertain after Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania switched parties and is now a Democrat.
Specter's swap means Republicans have to name a new ranking member. Hatch took his name out of the race on Sunday. As a previous committee chairman, Hatch would have had to seek an exception to lead the Republican response. Instead he will let another Republican take the reins.
