UP FRONT

Souter's Flag Argument
Could Have Significance

DAVID FRIEDMAN

Special to The Jewish News

W

hen President Bush
nominated federal
appellate Judge
David Souter to the Supreme
Court on Monday, Jewish
organizations knew nothing
about his views on issues of
concern to American Jews,
such as the separation of
church and state.
A day later, Jewish organ-
izations were still not able to
get a fix on the 50-year-old
jurist from New Hampshire.
But there appears to be
"no smoking gun," said
Marc Stern, legal director
for the American Jewish
Congress.
Stern said Tuesday that he
and his staff had gone over
more than 185 opinions
Souter had written while on
the New Hampshire
Supreme Court from 1978 to
1983. They found that not
one dealt with the church-
state issue.
Souter has been on the 1st
U.S. Circuit Court of Ap-
peals in Boston for only two
months and has not taken
part in any cases before the
court.
But one incident that oc-
curred when Souter was

New Hampshire's attorney
general could be of concern
to Jews.
Meldrim Thomson, who
was the state's conservative
and controversial governor
at the time, ordered the
American flag flown at half
mast on public buildings on
Good Friday, to mark the
death of Jesus.
When a federal court
blocked the order on grounds
that it violated the separa-
tion of church and state,
Souter argued that Thomson
was recognizing Jesus as a
"historical figure" and not
endorsing Christianity.
"It's hard to tell whether it
means anything," Stern said
of Souter's action. He noted
that Souter was acting to de-
fend his client, the governor,
in his capacity as attorney
general.
It is also not clear whether
Souter did the work on the
case or whether it was done
by one of his assistants,
Stern added.
He said Souter should be
questioned about the inci-
dent when he appears before
the Senate Judiciary Com-
mittee for his confirmation
hearings.
The hearings are expected
to begin in September.
"His record will certainly

Artwork from Newsday by Bob Newman. Copyright* 1990. Newsday. Distributed by Los Angeles Times Syndicate.

be scrutinized by the
Senate," agreed Samuel
Rabinove, legal director for
the American Jewish Com-
mittee. Souter is an
"unknown, and one has to
reserve judgment," he said.
The main issue of general
public concern, following
Justice William Brennan's
surprise announcement last
Friday that he was retiring
after 34 years on the court,
has been where his replace-
ment will stand on the issue
of abortion.

President Bush, in an-
nouncing Souter's appoint-
ment, denied that he had
made abortion or any other
issue a litmus test in his
decision.
As a state Supreme Court
justice, Souter was involved
in a decision on abortion.
But his disposition in the
case gives no clue as to
whether he would vote to
uphold or overturn Roe vs.
Wade, the 1973 U.S.
Supreme Court case that
ruled women have a con-

stitutional right to an abor-
tion.
Federal and state court
judges must rule in accor-
dance with U.S. Supreme
Court decisions. But once on
the U.S. Supreme Court, a
justice is free to decide ac-
cording to how he interprets
the federal Constitution.
Souter had concurred in a
majority opinion of the New
Hampshire Supreme Court
that a doctor was negligent
Continued on Page 10

ROUND UP

ADL Questions
Tournament Site
New York — The Profes-
sional Golfers Association of
America (PGA) will not
move its 1990 championship
from an Alabama country
club that sanctions de facto
racial discrimination, but
"exclusionary membership
practices will be a factor in
future championship site
selections," PGA officials
said.
The Anti-Defamation
League wrote PGA Presi-
dent Patrick Rielly express-
ing concern that the integri-
ty of the golfers' association
is "seriously threatened" by
its association with any club
that "in policy and practice
unjustly discriminates
against individuals on the
basis of race, religion,
gender or ethnicity."
Rielly, in his response to
the ADL, said, "The PGA
recognizes its obligations to
foster and promote equal op-
portunity. But we do not
believe that those obliga-

tions are best fulfilled by
breaching the commitments
we have previously made for
this year's PGA champion-
ship."

Mummies' Delight:
Dead Sea Asphalt
New York (JTA) — King
Tut would never have made
it where he is today without
a healthy dose of asphalt
from the Dead Sea.
The asphalt helped
preserve Egyptian mummies
for more than eight cen-
turies, according to molecu-
lar analysis just completed
by the Weizmann Institute
of Science.
The new report settles a
longstanding controversy
between ancient historians,
who described the export of
Dead Sea asphalt to Egypt,
and modern archaeologists
who denied it took place.
Dr. Arie Nissenbaum of
the Weizmann Institute, in
cooperation with Dr. Jurgen
Rullkoter and Dr. Jacques

Connan, found that asphalt
was one of the ingredients in
the mummies dating to the
Hellenistic and Roman
periods (4th century BCE to
4th century CE) by using
methods developed for stu-
dying the geochemistry of
crude oil.
Asphalt was considered an
important natural resource
in the ancient fertile cres-
cent. It was used as mortar
in buildings and walls, as an
adhesive and as insecticide.

MDA Ambulances
Are Attacked
Tel Aviv — Magen David
Adom (MDA) last week
lodged a complaint with the
International Committee of
the Red Cross in Israel after
an attack on an MDA mobile
intensive care unit called to
administer medical assis-
tance in the village of
Silwan near east Jerusalem.
An investigation revealed
that the call to the MDA
Jerusalem station was a

not have the funding to in-
stall shatterproof plexiglass
windows, which cost $3,000
apiece.

Palestinians attack an MDA am-
bulance in Silwan.

false alarm intended to in-
stigate an assault on the
vehicle. Masked attackers
threw stones and iron bars
at the ambulance when it
arrived in Silwan. None of
the paramedics were in-
jured.
MDA officials told the Red
Cross several other am-
bulances on their way to
administer first aid in the
West Bank, Gaza and east
Jerusalem have been at-
tacked.
About one-third of MDA's
more than 600 ambulances
treat patients in east
Jerusalem and the ter-
ritories. MDA said it does

'Yiddle' Makes
Broadway Debut
New York — Broadway is
about to play host to a new
English musical based on a
1936 Yiddish film classic.
Yiddle With A Fiddle is set
to open at the Town Hall
Theatre in October, with
lyrics and music by Isaiah
Sheffer and Abraham Ells-
tein.
Ellstein also wrote the
music for the film version of
Yiddle, which starred Molly
Picon. His other songs in-
clude "Oh, Mama, Am I In
Love" and "How Good It Is."
Sheffer wrote the book and
lyrics for The Rise of David
Levinsky and A Broadcast
Baby.

Compiled by
Elizabeth Applebaum

THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

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