McCain Pledges a More Conservative Supreme Court

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — Highlighting an issue he plans to use aggressively in the general election campaign, Senator McCain yesterday decried "the common and systematic abuse of our federal courts by the people we entrust with judicial power" and pledged to nominate judges similar to the ones President Bush has placed on the bench.

The presumptive Republican presidential nominee said that Chief Justice John Roberts Jr. and Justice Samuel Alito Jr. "would serve as the model for my own nominees, if that responsibility falls to me," highlighting the gap between Republicans and Democrats on the question of who should sit on the Supreme Court. Both justices have established strong conservative records since Bush appointed them, and the appointment of one more conservative to the nation's highest court could tip the balance on issues such as abortion and civil rights.

The two remaining Democratic candidates, Senator Obama of Illinois and Senator Clinton, opposed the nominations of Chief Justice Roberts and Justice Alito.

"My nominees will understand that there are clear limits to the scope of judicial power, and clear limits to the scope of federal power," Mr. McCain told a crowd of several hundred at Wake Forest University's Wait Chapel, as he stood in front of nine American flags and mock-ups of the preamble to the Constitution.

Later in the day, he announced the formation of a conservative-leaning Justice Advisory Committee, which he said will counsel him on judicial appointments if he wins the presidency. The group, which will be chaired by a former solicitor general, Theodore Olson, and Senator Brownback, a Republican of Kansas, is a Who's Who of prominent conservative legal minds, with members including a Princeton University professor, Robert George, and Rachel Brand, a former assistant attorney general for the Office of Legal Policy.

"Here's what McCain was really telling the party base: If you liked George W. Bush's nominees, you're going to love the judges John McCain will put on the bench," the president of People for the American Way, Kathryn Kolbert, said.

Conservatives — who have been frustrated by the fact that Bush has appointed 303 federal judges compared with President Clinton's 372 — were quick to praise Mr. McCain. Edward Whelan, a former clerk to Justice Antonin Scalia who heads the Ethics and Public Policy Center, called the speech "very encouraging" and added: "McCain has drawn a clear line between his support for judicial restraint and Obama's promise to appoint liberal judicial activists." In a reference to Justice David Souter, who was appointed by a republican, President George H.W. Bush, but has staked out a liberal voting record on the court, Mr. Whelan added: "McCain has promised that his Supreme Court nominees will have 'a proven record of excellence in the law, and a proven commitment to judicial restraint.' In other words, no more Souters."

While Mr. McCain criticized the judgment of both Democratic candidates when it comes to voting on judicial nominees — "It turned out that not even John Roberts was quite good enough for them" — he reserved his harshest attack for Mr. Obama, drawing applause from the audience.