Manion Confirmed

Manion has never authored an academic article and has limited experience in federal court. Some senators have criticized his ties to the political work of his father, who was an active member of the John Birch Society.

In addition, a letter signed by Vorenberg and other law deans said Manion had knowingly violated Supreme Court rulings he did not favor when serving as a legislator in his home state of Indiana.

The Reagan Administration and the Justice Department hailed Manion's confirmation as a victory over partisan politics, saying that liberal senators and law scholars had fought Manion because of his ideological beliefs rather than his qualifications to judge.

Robert W. Bennett, dean of Northwestern University School of Law in Chicago, who signed the deans' letter, said: "Part of what is disappointing about this whole thing is that our intense protest was to no avail. We made an honest attempt to really address the issue on the merits, but there was really a willingness to ignore the truth for politics."

"In my memory that has never been an action like this from the legal world. I wish I could expect a little more from U.S. senators," Bennett said.