Only two weeks ago, the confirmation of Judge G. Harrold Carswell to fill the ninth seat on the U.S. Supreme Court looked to be as sure a thing as bean soup on the Senate dining room's daily menu. Between Southern conservatives backing a sympathetic Floridian and Republican liberals hesitant to buck President Nixon a second time after defeat of the Haynsworth nomination in November, the White House forces counted 55 pro-Carswell votes. Last week, however, three factors coalesced to place the Carswell nomination in sudden and serious jeopardy.
Carswell's nonornamental record on the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals had not damaged...
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