Drive against O’Connor, Conservatives find little support

WASHINGTON (AP) – Conservative groups trying to mount a political offensive against Sandra D. O’Connor’s nomination to the Supreme Court are finding a fight and seeing no support in a Senate inclined to confirm her. At a Capitol Hill news conference backed by 21 conservative and anti-abortion organizations, a spokesman said Thursday that the Reagan administration may have “covered up” information about O’Connor’s alleged pro-abortion stance. They claimed that as a member of the Arizona Senate in 1970 she co-sponsored and voted in committee for a measure that would have legalized abortion on demand. The bill never was enacted. Within hours of the news conference, conservative Sen. Barry Goldwater, R-Ariz., took to the Senate floor to denounce criticism of the Arizona appeals court judge as “a lot of foolish claptrap.” Later, Goldwater stepped up his counterattack by accusing the Moral Majority and the National Right to Life Conunittee, two groups in the forefront of the battle against the nomination, of “taking more of a fascist line than a conservative line.” Howard Phillips, spokesman lor the groups and head of the Conservative Caucus, told reporters that the O’Connor non_lination was a “major blow” to the conservative bloc that helped elect Reagan last fall. “It can be expected that the O’Connor nomination could diminish the prospects for Republican gains in the House and Senate irl 1982,” he added. Phillips noted that several senators have expressed a desire not to be “railroaded”