Panel Gets New Rehnquist Papers : Democrats Study Medical Data, Want More Testimony

WASHINGTON —  Democrats opposed to confirming Justice William H. Rehnquist to head the Supreme Court obtained Thursday additional Justice Department documents he had written, studied his medical records and tried to open the door for more testimony.

But it appears likely that Rehnquist will easily win committee approval next Thursday.

Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.), who declared his opposition to Rehnquist’s nomination to chief justice as Senate confirmation hearings opened last week, said that memos the nominee wrote as a key legal adviser in the Richard M. Nixon Administration show that “he was very much involved in the policy of using the Army and FBI to spy” on civilians.

Calls for ‘an Open Mind’

“His testimony may be necessary to clear up those matters,” Kennedy said Thursday at a meeting of the Senate Judiciary Committee. “I hope the (committee) members keep an open mind until they have time to review the documents.”

But most committee members who have examined the 25 documents--obtained after the Administration relented on its assertion of executive privilege to withhold them--said they had found nothing that would prompt them to vote against Rehnquist.

Sen. Paul Simon (D-Ill.), for example, in noting that he and other Democrats were obtaining additional documents based on information contained in the first set, said: “I don’t anticipate anything sensational out of this.”

And, Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.), a potential swing vote who occasionally has joined Democrats in opposing Administration nominees, made clear that he has no intention of doing so this time.

‘No Reason for His Return’

“My preliminary review of the papers shows there’s no reason to question the confirmation, and I see no reason for his return” to the committee hearing room, Specter said.

Sen. Howard M. Metzenbaum (D-Ohio), who has questioned Rehnquist’s candor, said that “it may be desirable on his part” to return before the panel.

But committee Chairman Strom Thurmond (R-S.C.) said that he had spoken with Rehnquist about the possibility, “and he feels and I feel that there’s a conflict in the evidence, and it’s just a question of who you’re going to believe . . . . It seems to me the matter ought to be completed.”

Thurmond was referring to testimony on allegations that Rehnquist, as a Republican campaign official in Arizona, had harassed black and Latino voters in the 1960s--charges that Rehnquist has denied under oath.

“This is the nominee for chief justice--not a defendant in an insurance fender-bender case,” said Sen. Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah), Rehnquist’s chief defender on the panel. “I don’t see any reason that would warrant calling him back.”

Cites Medical Report

Metzenbaum, noting that a committee-appointed physician had completed reviewing Rehnquist’s medical records, cited his report as a factor that hypothetically could delay the panel’s vote, which is set for next Thursday. Metzenbaum emphasized that he had not reviewed the doctor’s report.

Rehnquist’s health became an issue in late 1981, when he was hospitalized for a back disorder and treated for a withdrawal reaction to a drug he was taking to help him sleep. The medication had affected “his mental clarity and his ability to express himself,” doctors said at the time.

Rehnquist testified that he was in good health and would not have accepted President Reagan’s nomination if he did not feel up to the job.

Mark Goodin, a spokesman for Thurmond, said there is “not one shred of anything” when asked if the medical report had turned up any unresolved health problems.

In a related development, the head of a legal group supporting Rehnquist disclosed records Thursday showing that the parents of Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. (D-Del.), ranking minority member on the Judiciary Committee, own a home that has a 1940 restriction against blacks in its deed.

Biden Notes Disclaimer

Biden lived in the home, which his parents bought in 1969, when he first ran for the Senate in 1972. He said his parents never signed the deed with the restrictive covenant and have taken steps to disclaim it.

“The American people have a right to know about the existence of these documents in judging the worth and sincerity of accusations that have been raised concerning Mr. Justice Rehnquist’s property holdings,” said John McClellan, president of the Center for Judicial Studies.

Restrictive covenants against Jews and “non-whites” on properties owned by Rehnquist have been a factor at the hearings on his nomination. He testified that he did not know of the restrictions and moved to remove the restriction from the one property he still owns.