    [Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 29, Number 11 (Monday, March 22, 1993)]
    [Pages 453-454]
    [Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

    <R04>
    Remarks on the Retirement of Supreme Court Justice Byron R. White and an
    Exchange With Reporters

     March 19, 1993

        The President. Let me say, as all of you know, I received a letter
    not long ago from Justice White expressing his intention to resign from
    the Court at the end of this term and saying that he wanted to give me
    this much notice so that hopefully I could announce my intention to
    nominate someone and all the hearings could be concluded in time to
    really prepare someone to serve at the beginning of the October term of
    the Court.
        I called Justice White just a few moments ago and had a fine
    conversation with him. I've known him for nearly 20 years, and I thanked
    him for his service to our country. He's had a truly remarkable life.
    And I appreciate the fact that he cared enough about the Court as an
    institution to offer me a significant period of time to deliberate and
    still to have plenty of time to have a nominee considered by the Senate
    and then confirmed well in advance of the beginning of the Court's next
    term.
        So I will begin work on this tomorrow in earnest. And I will attempt
    to be faithful to my Constitutional duties and appoint a truly
    outstanding American in a timely fashion.

    Potential Supreme Court Nominees

        Q. ----you once mentioned Governor Cuomo before.
        The President. I don't want to get into personalities now. This is
    Mr. Justice White's day. And as I said, I never will forget sitting in
    the Supreme Court as a young attorney general and having had him already
    tell me that the quality of representation by the States was pretty
    poor. And then I had worked very hard with a lawyer from my State who
    was making the argument, and he sent me a note, which I still have in my
    personal files 16 years later, saying that we were doing better. So
    that's what I'm going to try to do every day.
        Q. Do you have a long list of possible nominees?
        The President. No. The list may get longer; it may get shorter. I
    did not anticipate having the opportunity to make an appointment at this
    early stage, so we don't have a big bank of potential nominees. I'll go
    to work on it tomorrow. I don't want to discuss any individuals at this
    point. I will do my best to pick a truly outstanding person just as soon
    as I can.

    Bosnia

        Q. ----is to get people out of Bosnia. Are you going to be able to
    comply with that request?
        The President. President Mitterrand and I talked the other day, and
    he told me he

    [[Page 454]]

    was going to give some helicopters, which, as you know, he's done. And
    this morning was the first I have been informed of that. So we're going
    to discuss that today and make a decision.

    Abortion

        Q. Is abortion a litmus test for a Supreme Court nominee? Is that
    the whole issue?
        The President. Now, the question as you ask it contains a thousand
    questions. And I wouldn't say no, and a thousand questions no. Do I
    believe that there is a constitutional right to privacy? Yes, I do.
        Thank you.

    Note: The President spoke at 9:55 a.m. on the South Lawn at the White
    House upon departure for Atlanta, GA. In his remarks, he referred to
    President Francois Mitterrand of France.