Put wisdom above bias

The savage attacks on Supreme Court nominee Sandra Day O’Connor by right-wing groups reveal a dangerously distorted idea of how the U. S. government should work. In this country, Congress enacts the legislation; the courts determine its conformity with the organic law of the land, the Constitution, and define its application to specific cases. The fact that groups such as the Moral Majority and the National Right to Life Committee supported President Reagan in the last electi0n gives them no right to have a representative on the Supreme Court or any other branch of the judiciary. When the Senate holds hearings on confirmation of the O’Connor appointment, it should review her record as a lawyer, state legislator, and appeals court judge in Arizona . It should not try to extract a commitment about how she will vote in cases involving abortion, the issue that her critics consider crucial. And it should ignore the demands of lobbyists who want it to demonstrate to President Reagan that “his next court appointment had better be pro-life.” Abortion is only one of the many controversial issues the Supreme Court will have to consider in the years ahead. Vacancies on the court should be filled with appointees who are distinguished for their wisdom and their judicial temperament, not for their blind accept – ance of the doctrines of any group. Associate Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes made his reputation as a gre_at judge by defending . the right of the government – whether federal or state-to