Foes of nomination man the ramparts

w ASHINGTON – There were hundreds of them. Each carried a . placard proclaiming opposition to Sandra O’Connor’s nomination to the Supreme Court. Most had spent the previous night sitting up on chartered buses. They had made their uncomfortable but impassioned journeys from 12 states. Now they were marching in front of the Dirksen Senate Office Building. There were grim looks on their faces. The men seemed angrier than the women. Somehow, they had transferred their revulsion for abortion to a fear and dislike of Judge O’Connor, a woman they no doubt would be unable to recognize if she walked into their midst. While they were marching up and down and screaming about their revulsion for abortion, a remarkable thing happened. Supreme Court Associate Justice Harry Blackmun, the man who authored the court’s majority opinion favoring abortion in the Roe vs. Wade case, walked right through their parade on his way to work. The justice who had received thousands of hate letters from right-to-life adherents after his decision was published in 1973 was not recognized by a single demonstrator. The messages on the signs were irrational. They demanded defeat for Judge O’Connor’s nomination. To these marchers, the tiny appeals-court judge from Arizona was not the first woman in history nominated to sit on the Supreme Court. They saw in Judge O’Connor, if their signs were a true indication, a mixture of Adolf Hitler and Charles Manson. For the signs spoke of murder and betrayal. “Sandra Is An