XXXXX DRUDGE REPORT XXXXX SUN DEC 03, 2000 20:29:31 ET XXXXX
CONTROVERSY SWIRLS AROUND SUPREME JUSTICE BREYER; COMMENTS MADE BY GORE 'FRIEND' INDICATE PREJUDICE
As the nation waits for the US Supreme Court to rule, Justice Stephen Breyer found himself in the middle of complete controversy after Friday's historic oral arguments where he indicated a prejudice against Florida's Secretary of State.
Justice Breyer, appointed by the Clinton/Gore administration, slipped during questioning and revealed just how Election 2000 has become a bitter battle split down partisan lines -- even inside of the land's highest court!
Breyer stunned watchers inside of the courtroom as he grilled Joseph Klock, a lawyer for Republican Secretary of State Katherine Harris. Justice Breyer framed the debate by stating: Whether we win, whether your side wins.
"And now the secretary has certified a winner," Justice Breyer declared. "And therefore, I guess, whether we win -- whether your side, the side you're supporting wins or loses, it doesn't change that."
The Justice's view that he is on the opposing side of Secretary Harris, who awarded George Bush the state's electoral votes, may be rooted in the fact that Vice President Gore is a personal friend -- who argued vigorously for the selection and confirmation of Breyer to the Court.
Gore was a driving force during formal meetings held by President Clinton's Supreme Court search team in the Spring of 1994. During the sessions, a list of a dozen prospects were considered to fill retiring Justice Harry Blackmun's seat. In the end, the nomination was given to Breyer, a personal friend of Gore's.
And Gore presided over Breyer's swearing-in ceremony.
"Justice Breyer has already given much," Gore intoned at the East Room ceremony in August, 1994.
"But his greatest challenges lie ahead. The court he joins will no doubt face questions of great difficulty and consequence. We will all need his wisdom to help shape America's future into the next century and beyond."
On July 8, 1994, Gore said of Breyer: "Just speaking in personal terms, it is a great pleasure to be able to promote the virtue of this particular nomination. He is a friend and he is obviously an outstanding jurist... the more you know him, the more you come to appreciate what he is really like -- his wife and his family and he, himself, are really wonderful people... His whole approach to life, I think, is just a real model. I think he's a wonderful person."
Breyer's "whether we win, whether your side wins" comment made in open court on Friday ignited nonstop conversations throughout Washington, even though the nation's main press has remained silent on the slip.
Said one insider: "What if Justice Scalia had made such a revealing comment? Or Clarence Thomas? Another media lynching would have begun, at a minimum with calls for recusal from Jesse Jackson."
One court staffer told the DRUDGE REPORT late Sunday, "I think you can now understand why the justices would rather debate without the glare of the camera, or even the broadcast microphone."
A Gore campaign spokesman refused to comment for this report.
Gore's "Buddy" Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer
-- Ain't Gonna Happen (Not Here Not@ever.com), December 04, 2000