O’Connor dislikes busing, in favor of death penalty

Supreme Court nominee Sandra D. O’Connor, testifying at her second day of confirmation hearings, said yesterday she was personally opposed to busing and in favor of the death penalty. She also expressed doubts, based on her own experiences as a trial judge, about the hotly debated exclusionary rule, which judges use to throw out evidence illegally seized by police. The Supreme Court is expected to confront all three controversial issues during O’Connor’s life term. They are also traditional targets of Reagan conservatives, and her statements yesterday seemed certain to reinforce her own conservative credentials. These have been questioned by leaders of the New Right, though she stressed that her personal views would play no role in the resolution of cases before the court. The first woman nominee thus concluded her testimony without mishap. In fact, though her lack of federal court experience has been criticized, many senators seemed dazzled by her command of federal law as case citations and statistics rolled easily off her tongue. At one point, she even corrected one committee member’s description of a recent Supreme Court ruling. Several Senate Judiciary Committee members did criticize her unwillingness to express opinions on specific cases, especially abortion rulings, and one, Sen. John P. East (R-N.C.), suggested that she was selectively avoiding comment in order to avoid controversy. Her handling of that criticism typified her performance. Sen. Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa),