Goldwater vows fight for O’Connor

Sen. Barry Goldwater of Arizona, for more than two decades a darling of Republican conservatives, has warned anti-abortionists and fundamentalist religious groups that he is ready to fight them to help win Senate confirmation of Sandra D. O’Connor as a Supreme Court justice. Judge O’Connor is an appellate judge in Goldwater’s home district. Goldwater, angered by opposition to President Reagan’s choice from anti-abortion groups and especially by the Rev. Jerry Falwell, head of the Moral Majority, said Wednesday, “I think every good Christian ought to kick Falwell right in the-.” Goldwater, who is of Jewish ancestry and an Episcopalian, said anyone who wants to fight Judge O’Connor’s confirmation will have to fight him. “You could offer the Lord’s name for some of these position and you’d find some of these outfits objecting even to him being appointed to anything,” said Goldwater. ” I don’t buy this idea that a justice of the Supreme Court has to stand for this, that or the other thing. And I’m getting a little tired of people in this country raising hell because they don’t happen to subscribe to every thought that person has ” I am probably one of tlie most conservative members of the Congress and I don’t like to get kicked around by people who call themselves conservatives on a non-conservative matter. It is a question of who is best for the court. “If it’s going to take a fight, they’re going to find old Goldy fighting like hell.” The Senate was in recess when Reagan