Don’t Quiz Souter, Thornburgh Warns Senators : Court: The attorney general tells Democrats not to press the nominee for opinions on issues such as abortion. He views those questions as ‘unwise.’

WASHINGTON —  Supreme Court nominee David H. Souter made the traditional courtesy calls on Senate leaders Wednesday as Atty. Gen. Dick Thornburgh warned Democrats that probing the nominee about his views on specific issues “verged on the improper.”

Responding to questions after a speech at the National Press Club, Thornburgh also hinted that Souter may not respond to inquiries regarding his opinions on controversial cases likely to face the high court.

Thornburgh’s comments were the latest in the White House’s efforts to avoid scrutiny of the nominee’s opinions on so-called “hot-button” issues--abortion and civil rights, for example. Since President Bush announced Souter as his choice to replace retired Justice William J. Brennan Jr., a string of Administration officials have repeatedly implored Democrats not to press the nominee on such issues.

“To try to pin down any prospective appointee on a specific issue or a specific case would seem to me to verge on the improper and certainly be unwise,” Thornburgh said. “There probably is a considerable difference in plumbing the philosophy of an individual with respect to the judicial role in interpreting the Constitution and asking about how an individual would react to a particular case or a particular authority.

“I trust Judge Souter’s wisdom and experience to enable him to walk the line between giving members of the Senate an appropriate road map to his judicial philosophy and in politely declining to respond to questions that were case or issue-related,” he added.

Souter’s limited record on dealing with abortion gives at best an ambiguous picture of his views. On Wednesday, it was learned that in a 1976 college commencement address, Souter attacked the idea of affirmative action, calling it “affirmative discrimination.”

Souter was attorney general of New Hampshire at the time of his address on May 30, 1976, to graduates of the New England Aeronautical Institute and Daniel Webster College in Nashua, N.H.

Affirmative action does not help those who need it and government “should not be involved in this,” Souter told the graduates, according to an account published the day after the speech in the Manchester Union-Leader, a conservative New Hampshire newspaper.

Meanwhile, the Administration offered Souter help in preparing for his as yet unscheduled confirmation hearings.

Tom Korologos, an influential Republican consultant, said he was asked by the White House to assist in developing strategy for Souter’s confirmation. He predicted Souter would duck direct answers to some politically sensitive questions.

“There are ways to respond to questions on abortion,” Korologos said. “You respond by talking constitutional theory and right of privacy. You talk around the subject and get to the point of satisfying the senators’ questions without giving direct answers.”

However, Korologos said the nominee’s answers will be “100% his own answers.”

“He’s not some political functionary who has to toe the line for the Administration, and he will be the one who has to live those answers,” Korologos said.

Senate Judiciary Committee members seemed divided Wednesday on whether they will press Souter to make public his opinions on abortion and other issues.

“It’s premature to predict what will happen at the hearings,” said a staffer to one key Judiciary Committee member. “Judge Souter is an unknown quantity. The first step is to determine what his opinions are before deciding what questions to ask him.”

But Bob Maynes, an aide to Sen. Dennis DeConcini (D-Ariz.), said it was inevitable that Souter would be asked his opinion on abortion.

“It’s difficult to imagine no one will ask him about that,” he said. “And, if no one does, (DeConcini) will ask it.”

Meanwhile, Souter avoided answering any sensitive questions tossed at him as he traversed the Senate corridors for his first official Capitol Hill visit to meet senators who can place him on the high court.

“I look forward to participating with the Senate of the United States in a constitutional process,” he said, when asked his opinion of the confirmation process he was beginning to undertake. “That is a great privilege.”

Souter first stopped in the ornate office of Senate Minority Leader Bob Dole (R-Kan.) to meet Sen. Gordon J. Humphrey (R.-N.H.), Minority Whip Alan K. Simpson (R-Wyo.), Sen. Strom Thurmond, (R-S.C.), the Judiciary Committee’s ranking minority member, and Sen. Warren B. Rudman (R-N.H.), Souter’s close friend and political mentor. Also present was Frederick D. McClure, the White House’s chief lobbyist and the point man in the Administration efforts to secure Souter’s confirmation.

Wearing a dark gray suit, white shirt and navy-and-white rep tie, Souter stood in the center of the office with his hands stuffed in his pants pocket as Thurmond repeatedly presented him with a gavel for the benefit of news cameras.

“I’m confident you will be confirmed, so I present you with this gavel,” Thurmond said.

Souter smiled, finally took the trophy and responded: “Shall I gavel this meeting to close right now?”

During his brief exchanges with reporters, Souter seemed at ease and, on occasion, showed glimpses of charm and wit.

When asked if he was getting any advice on the Hill, Souter said: “The quantity is great.”

“What about the quality?”

“I’ll leave that for the U.S. Senate,” he replied.

In another instance, he was asked if it was “shocking” for such a “quiet man” to have his life dissected.

“I never thought of myself as that obscure,” he said dryly.

While visiting with Senate Majority Leader George J. Mitchell (D-Me.), a former federal judge, Souter was less animated as he discussed retired Chief Judge Frank Coffin of the 1st Circuit Court of Appeals. Souter told Mitchell that he cherishes a letter of praise Coffin once sent him.

“I would frame it, but that would be ostentatious,” he said.

Souter, who recently was appointed to the 1st Circuit Court of Appeals but has heard cases on that bench for only one day, told reporters that he is recovering from the shock of President Bush’s nomination.

“I really don’t have any substantive feelings to express,” he said. “I think the best news I have is the blood is circulating to the brain well enough now so that I’m beginning to have some feelings.”

Staff writers Paul Houston and Robert L. Jackson contributed to this story.