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No New Skeletons. Haynsworth's fellow citizens respect both the judge and his privacy. Townspeople willing to talk about him at all have only praise. A white merchant describes him as "one of the finest men in Greenville." Another declares: "It's nothing but politics against him; that's all it is." James Hawkins, a Negro part-time bartender who has observed the judge at social functions, calls him "a courteous man" who "always has treated colored people fine."
Although some of his friends have found Haynsworth disturbed by the attacks on him, almost none believe that he is ready to pull out of the fight of his own accord. Nor is the President likely to withdraw the nomination. Meeting with congressional leaders last week, Nixon restated both his confidence in Haynsworth and his determination to press for a Senate showdown on the nomination. Nixon feels that dropping Haynsworth would destroy his effectiveness as an appellate judge and represent a surrender to the liberals who oppose the appointment on philosophical grounds. Heartened by the opposition's failure to find any new skeletons in the judge's closet, Administration officials say they have the votes to put the judge on the Supreme Court. But Haynsworth, who expected only token resistance to his nomination in the first place, may be wondering whether the prize is worth the battle.