Bush to ‘Go for Excellence’ in Filling High Court Seat : Judiciary: President reportedly is leaning toward naming a Latino. One of the candidates is an L.A. judge.

WASHINGTON —  President Bush, under intense pressure to nominate a member of a minority group to succeed retiring Justice Thurgood Marshall, vowed Friday that he will keep in mind the need for “the representation of all Americans” on the otherwise all-white Supreme Court.

At the same time, Bush said he wants to “go for excellence” and declared there should not be “a quota system” for the court.

Bush said he will move quickly to avoid “a lot of needless lobbying” on behalf of potential nominees, but conservatives already are rallying behind a leading black candidate and congressional supporters are lining up behind at least three Latino candidates.

Marshall himself said in a press conference Friday that race could not be “ignored” in the selection. And, with some Republican senators calling for “diversity” on the court, the President is known to be focusing on a short list of candidates that is believed to be dominated by minority-member judges.

The White House released a letter from Bush to Marshall in which the President said he accepted the retirement of the only black Supreme Court justice in the nation’s history “with deep regret.”

“Our nation is deeply indebted to you for your long and distinguished public service,” Bush wrote. He praised Marshall for his “courageous leadership in the fight for equal opportunity,” especially his work as an NAACP lawyer in winning the landmark Brown vs. Board of Education decision of May 17, 1954, banning public school segregation.

If Bush appoints another black to the court, White House sources said it most likely will be Judge Clarence Thomas, 43, of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. Although Thomas has won Senate confirmation four times previously, his selection would be opposed by civil rights and allied groups and would touch off a bitter Senate confirmation fight that some Bush aides say the President might rather avoid.

“The selection of Thomas would be a gutsy choice but would touch off one hell of a confirmation fight,” a senior White House official said.

Nonetheless, conservatives in the Administration were pressing for Thomas’ nomination Friday, and Sen. John C. Danforth (D-Mo.), a longtime friend, strongly endorsed him as having “all the qualifications of ability and character to be an outstanding justice of the Supreme Court.”

Another black on the list, Judge Amalya L. Kearse, 54, is a moderate Republican but was appointed to the U.S. Court of Appeals in New York City in 1979 by a Democrat--President Jimmy Carter.

Her chances of being nominated are probably slim. She is not considered conservative. And she filed a scathing dissent when her colleagues held that the federal government has the right to forbid physicians in federally funded family planning clinics to dispense information about abortion--a decision subsequently upheld by the Supreme Court and embraced by Bush.

Several Administration sources said they believe Bush is leaning toward naming one of three Latino candidates: U.S. 5th Circuit Court Judge Emilio M. Garza, 43, of San Antonio; U.S. 9th Circuit Court Judge Ferdinand F. Fernandez, 54, of Los Angeles; or U.S. District Court Judge Ricardo H. Hinojosa, 41, of Brownsville, Tex.

Another Latino, U.S. District Judge Jose A. Cabranes of Connecticut, who was appointed by President Carter but is described as “very conservative,” also may be on the short list, according to a senior Administration official.

If Bush should decide not to appoint a member of a minority group, he most likely will appoint a woman, sources said. In that case, a leading candidate would be U.S. 5th Circuit Court Judge Edith H. Jones of Texas, who was the runner-up last year when the President appointed Judge David H. Souter of New Hampshire to the Supreme Court.

After Judge Jones was passed over, John H. Sununu, the White House chief of staff, who supported Souter, said that “next time, she starts right at the top of the pile.”

Jones, a 1985 appointee of Ronald Reagan, is a favorite of conservatives and has been a hard-liner on crime, the death penalty and civil rights.

She once complained that the United States is “burdened by too much law” and is known for quickly and derisively dismissing appeals in death penalty cases. When a lawyer was a day late in filing one such appeal, she rejected it, saying, “The veil of civility that must protect us in society has been twice torn here”--by the murder and by the attorney’s tardiness.

Liberals and civil rights activists have vowed a major fight if she is nominated to the Supreme Court.

Bush’s choice of Souter surprised political and legal observers, and a senior Administration official said the President, who has strongly opposed quotas in hiring, might surprise Washington again by choosing a nominee who was neither a minority member nor a woman.

“There is an interesting dynamic at work here,” this official said, “because the President is against quotas. So what does one do? He could very well rise above it all and just say: ‘I want the best possible appointment regardless . . . . I understand the symbolism, but my constitutional duty is to identify the best qualified person.’ Then all bets would be off.”

In that case, which most observers consider unlikely, Solicitor General Kenneth W. Starr, who was one of the leading contenders when Bush named Souter, would be a strong candidate to replace Marshall. However, some sources say Starr is also a strong candidate to succeed Atty. Gen. Dick Thornburgh, who is resigning to run for the Senate in Pennsylvania.

Bush went over his short list of candidates at the White House on Friday with Thornburgh and White House counsel C. Boyden Gray before departing for Kennebunkport, Me. Aides said it is likely that he will announce his selection as soon as he returns to Washington Tuesday, if not earlier.

The White House said Bush wants to have a justice on the bench in Marshall’s place by the time the court reconvenes in October. “He wants to do it very fast,” spokesman Marlin Fitzwater said. “We’d like to have hearings so we can have a nominee on the bench before the fall session starts. We won’t take too long.”

The Supreme Court session starts on Oct. 7.

The confirmation process usually is time consuming even if the nominee is not controversial. The Senate Judiciary Committee will not consider the nomination until it receives formal notice from the President and the nominee’s paperwork--an FBI background check, financial disclosure and legal career highlights, including major opinions.

Then the committee must conduct its own extensive background check while staff attorneys study the legal background of the nominee. This would be followed by hearings, including testimony under oath by the nominee and questioning by the 14-member panel, which is composed of eight Democrats and six Republicans, headed by Sen. Josph R. Biden Jr. (D-Del.).

Although committee aides are reluctant to offer a timetable, it seems most likely that the hearings will not begin until September, no matter how quickly the President makes his choice. The Senate is scheduled to take its annual summer recess for most of August.

At the White House press briefing Friday, Fitzwater was asked whether Bush was concerned that, whether he appointed a white or a black to the court, he would be criticized either by civil rights advocates or opponents of quotas.

“You can’t anticipate those kinds of concerns,” he said. “You have to go for the best candidate, you try to find a candidate or representative with a judicial temperament that you believe in and a candidate that is qualified beyond question. The Supreme Court represents all Americans.”

The Justice Department, he said, maintains a list of candidates who are qualified for the Supreme Court and appellate courts, and “there are always additions that come up at the last minute.”

Civil rights and allied groups are bracing for a confirmation fight if Bush’s choice is Judge Thomas.

Although Benjamin L. Hooks, executive director of the NAACP, made no mention of the racial question, he said, “If we don’t get a suitable replacement, believe me, it would be the mother of all confirmation battles.”

Thomas, although confirmed by the Senate as an appellate judge, as assistant secretary of education for civil rights and twice as chairman of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, would be a controversial choice. He has angered civil rights groups with his attacks on quotas and busing to achieve desegregation.

Staff writers William Eaton and Ronald J. Ostrow contributed to this story.

COURT CANDIDATES: Profiles of possible candidates for Supreme Court justice. A18

MARSHALL TALKS: Thurgood Marshall answers questions at press briefing. A22