U.S. News & World Report - Full Court Press: Interest Groups Girding for Battle Over Next Supreme Court Nominee

February 14, 2005
By Angie Cannon, U.S. News & World Report

In a nondescript, fifth-floor office on M Street in downtown Washington sit about 40 computers and a host of telephones. This is the war room of the liberal interest group People for the American Way, and the minute President Bush names a new U.S. Supreme Court nominee, this place will be in full combat mode. Meanwhile, across town, in a stately Capitol Hill row house, the battle already has begun at the American Center for Law and Justice, founded by Christian Coalition head Pat Robertson. Over muffins and fruit last week, chief counsel Jay Sekulow strategized with a dozen staffers: "Find out who was the youngest chief justice in history. It's a talking point we'll need. Let's check on Democratic senators we need to meet with. We need to look at TV. We could turn around an ad in two days."
 
These are the front lines of America's next big political face-off. Never mind that Chief Justice William Rehnquist has given no indication that he actually plans to step down soon; his thyroid cancer and frail appearance on Inauguration Day have interest groups in Washington gearing up for a bruising fight over a high-court vacancy they all assume is coming. Given the age of other justices, there could be several openings on the horizon, and President Bush has promised to name conservative jurists to fill them. During the president's second term, the high court may produce a multifront war.

Nothing to chance

Political battles over Supreme Court nominations aren't new; the Senate booted a quarter of nominees during the 19th century. Since 1896, however, things have been mostly calm. But there have been high-profile exceptions, especially the 1987 bloodbath over Ronald Reagan's nominee Robert Bork, who was rejected 58 to 42. It's not certain that a Bush move to replace the conservative Rehnquist with another conservative would prompt a similar brawl. But groups on both the right and the left are leaving nothing to chance; they have spent months picking through potential nominees' old opinions and law review articles. Both sides are E-mailing backgrounders to their members and circulating memos to Senate staffers. There are blogs and focus groups, polls and message points.

The Federalist Society, a conservative legal group, hired Creative Response Concepts, the Virginia PR firm that advised the controversial, anti-John Kerry swift boat veterans last fall. Around the holidays, CRC coached legal heavyweights on how to talk about the court on television talk shows. "They wanted to show us how not to embarrass ourselves on TV," says Chuck Cooper, a former assistant attorney general under Reagan. A new group, the Judicial Confirmation Network, led by former Bush-Cheney campaign official Gary Marx, also hired CRC. The network plans aggressive TV ads.

Over at the American Center for Law and Justice, Sekulow has a radio booth, and since last fall, he's been pushing Bush's prospective judicial nominees on the nearly 600 stations that carry his daily show.

At People for the American Way, President Ralph Neas leads a broad coalition of environmental, civil rights, abortion-rights, and labor groups. In 1987, he led the Block Bork coalition of 300 groups. This time around, Neas might mobilize 1,000 organizations. He expects that Hollywood celebs, such as Alec Baldwin or Kathleen Turner, also would speak out. For several years, People for the American Way has churned out reports with titles like "Courting Disaster" on what might happen if more conservative judges were appointed to the court. Another liberal group, NARAL Pro-Choice America, is recruiting thousands of "rapid responders," who will get "Supreme Court Action Kits" with backgrounders, posters, stickers, and petitions once there's a nominee.

Both sides admit their strategizing feels a bit unseemly. After all, Rehnquist hasn't stepped down. "I'm walking on eggshells," admits Sekulow. "I don't want to be too aggressive." But hey, it's too late to make nice.