Committee backs Judge O’Connor; Senate OK likely

WASHINGTON – Sandra O’Connor’s nomination as the first woman justice of the U.S. Supreme Court was approved without opposition Tuesday by tbe Senate Judiciary Committee. After the vote, Committee Chairman Strom Thurmond, R-S.C., predicted overwhelming confirmation of the judge and former Arizona state senator by the full Senate, perhaps as soon as Friday. One of the committee’s 18 members, Sen. Jeremiah Denton, R-Ala., abstained from voting because, he said, “I am far from satisfied with her answers” on abortion during three days of hearings last week. The other 17 members, nine Republicans and eight Democrats, voted for confirmation. “I appreciate his point of view,” Mrs. O’Connor said of Denton following the vote. Asked if she felt she had been given easier treatment by the committee because she is a woman, she replied, “Oh no.” But “they were very kind and very courteous,” she said. White House spokesman David Gergen said President Reagan was “delighted” with the vote and “is looking forward to a strong vote in the Senate” to confirm her nomination. The committee’s endorsement of Judge O’Connor, nominated by Reagan to replace retired Justice Potter Stewart who retired in July, had been predicted universally before and after last week’s hearings. Denton, who had questioned Judge O’Connor extensively, called his decision not to support her “one of the most difficult I have ever had to make.” Although she testified that she personally opposes abortion, Judge O’Connor repeatedly