Hearings for Nominee Will Reflect a Reversal

Given the political nature of modern court selections, the likely engagement of special interest groups and the already tense partisan atmosphere in Congress, both sides predict there will be some level of confirmation combat no matter whom President Obama selects to succeed Justice David H. Souter, who is retiring.

“Clearly, there will be a number of Republicans who will try to block any choice of the president,” said Senator Charles E. Schumer, Democrat of New York, a senior member of the Judiciary Committee.

Mr. Schumer noted that the 60 seats Democrats could occupy by the time of any confirmation vote would give them, and the president, a strong advantage.

Republicans said they awaited Mr. Obama’s choice and encouraged him to nominate someone considered to be in the mainstream of judicial thought, an approach they said would ease the way to Senate approval.

“I will be resistant to giving the nominee an unfair hardship,” said Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, a Republican member of the judiciary panel. “But they do need to be challenged on their philosophy and experience.”

Senator John Cornyn of Texas, another Republican committee member, said, “That is our responsibility.”

The Supreme Court opening comes as the Senate is already contending with major health care and energy legislation, the national economic crisis and a Pentagon procurement overhaul sought by the president, to name just a few issues.

Congressional officials suggested that the hearings and confirmation vote, which Democrats would like to hold by August, could slow any new immigration legislation, which is also in the purview of the Judiciary Committee. And should the nomination review turn ugly, lawmakers and others said, the tension could spill over to other policy matters.

There is another wild card. Senator Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, who as a Republican was chairman of the two most recent Judiciary Committee confirmation hearings — for Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. in 2005 and Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. in 2006 — became a Democrat as of last week.

Still, Mr. Specter said his support for a nominee picked by Mr. Obama should not be taken for granted, making him a potential pivotal figure in the outcome of the first Supreme Court nomination by a Democrat since President Bill Clinton sent the name of Stephen G. Breyer to the Senate in 1994.

“It depends on who the nominee is,” Mr. Specter said. “I am not in anybody’s pocket on this.”

At the same time, Mr. Specter’s defection to the Democratic Party has caused complications for Republicans because he was the senior party member on the Judiciary Committee. Now, other Republicans are jockeying to fill that void and the opportunity to be the party’s leading voice on the pending nomination.

The three Republicans who could get the job — Senators Charles E. Grassley of Iowa, Orrin G. Hatch of Utah and Jeff Sessions of Alabama — would bring distinctly different styles and experience to any confirmation battle. Mr. Sessions, the most conservative of the three, saw his own nomination to the federal bench rejected by the committee in 1986.

Republicans expect to sort out the Judiciary Committee issue this week.

Democrats said they were confident Mr. Obama would make a strong choice and were hopeful of avoiding the rancor that had become a staple of Senate review of Supreme Court nominees.

“I have faith the president will pick someone who is qualified and up to the challenges of the court,” said Senator Amy Klobuchar, Democrat of Minnesota. “I would hope Republicans give the president the opportunity to put his person on the court with some civility.”

Republicans said they understood that Mr. Obama was not going to nominate a conservative, but they said a selection seen as leaning too far left would draw heated opposition even if they no longer held the votes to block such a nomination. They said such a choice could provide a rallying point for their beleaguered party and help them emphasize the theme that Democrats were unchecked in their tightening control of the federal government.

Some Republicans also said a liberal nominee would pose risks for Senate Democrats representing conservative states

“It puts a lot of pressure on Democrats in red states, particularly those running for re-election in 2010, if it is someone who is dramatically outside of the mainstream,” said Mr. Cornyn, who, as chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, has a deep interest in the politics of the nomination.

As for their treatment of any court candidate, Republicans said Democrats had hardly been shy in confrontations with nominees of Republican presidents, noting that Democrats forced a vote to cut off a filibuster of Mr. Alito, who was opposed overwhelmingly by Democrats.

They are also well aware that Mr. Obama, while a senator, was one of 22 Democrats to vote against Mr. Roberts and was one of 25 who voted to filibuster Mr. Alito.

“President Obama should hope,” Mr. Graham said, “that Republican senators are fairer than he was when he was a senator.”