Judgment and the Justice

THE SENATE

On its cinematic merits, it seems unlikely to win even passing mention at any of the international film festivals. But in the New Senate Office Building last week, "0-7" was boffo. The movie, as billed by an aide to Senator Strom Thurmond, is "a vulgar, filthy, subjective thing of a woman disrobing down to her transparent panties."

The Senate Judiciary Committee does not often enliven its deliberations with erotica. The opportunity arose, improbably enough, during its hearings on the nomination of Associate Justice Abe Fortas as Chief Justice of the United States.

Along with a clutch of lurid nudie magazines, the film was introduced as evidence of the kind of material that the Supreme Court, with Fortas in agreement, has found to be not legally obscene. Senator Thurmond branded the nudist magazines, such as Nudi-Fax, Friendly Female and Weekend Jaybird, as "foul, putrid, filthy, repulsive, objectionable and obnoxious."

Refusing to Answer. Last week's attack was a good indication of the growing strength of the movement to block the confirmation of Fortas and Homer Thornberry, Lyndon Johnson's nominee for Associate Justice. Though the hear ings ended after nine days, more than a score of Senators made it plain that they plan a filibuster when Congress returns after the conventions. Michigan Republican Robert Griffin, leader of the anti-Fortas bloc, claimed that he already had more than enough votes to keep a filibuster going indefinitely.

Liberal supporters of the appointments were not altogether unhappy with a temporary delay that would let memories dull and tempers cool. Fortas was on firm ground in refusing to answer questions about past rulings and issues that might be brought before the court in the future, but it still looked odd for a judge, in effect, to "take the Fifth." Though he was open and candid about his relations with the President, even his friends were dismayed by the extent to which Justice Fortas had dou bled as White House adviser. Nor was Fortas' case helped by comments from Attorney General Ramsey Clark, who said that the Justice's critics were motivated by "political partisanship and, in some cases, opposition to civil rights advances." Others claimed, with less reason, that anti-Semitism was involved in the opposition to Fortas.

The whole affair was particularly trying for Fortas, who could not very well answer back. In his only public comment, he noted, only half-facetiously, that his "anger and outraged silence" might cause ulcers. The ulcers are likely to proliferate when the Senate reconvenes. All but inconceivable as it seemed a few weeks ago, it is now at least a possibility that Abe Fortas will be the first Chief Justice-designate since 1795 to be denied his seat.

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