President Clinton on Monday presented Supreme Court nominee Stephen Breyer to the public as a consensus-builder who will "build bridges in pursuit of fairness and justice."
Breyer, 55, pledged to "make law work for people" if confirmed for a lifetime seat on the court.
"The Constitution and the law must be more than mere words. They must work as a practical reality," he said.
Today, Breyer heads to Capitol Hill for courtesy calls on key senators, many of them old friends from his days as chief counsel to the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Breyer would replace retiring Justice Harry Blackmun. His confirmation hearings - justices must be approved by the full Senate - could begin by July 4.
The only potential opponent so far: Sen. Howard Metzenbaum, D-Ohio, who said Monday he has "strong reservations" about what he says is Breyer's big-business bias in a series of antitrust rulings as a federal appeals judge.
Metzenbaum says he wonders "whether or not Steve will be a voice on the court for the average American."
A federal appeals judge for the last 14 years, Breyer has written more than 600 opinions, many of which defy labeling as liberal or conservative.
He has promised to make his rulings understandable to non-lawyers: "No footnotes. Or as few as possible."
Breyer stayed overnight at the White House Sunday but missed the first part of a jog with Clinton on Monday morning.
Amid the continuing applause for the Breyer pick, there was still some fallout from Clinton's weeklong process of choosing among Breyer, Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt and Arkansas appeals Judge Richard Arnold.
Asked by a reporter whether he had shrunk from picking Babbitt because of expected opposition from some Western senators, Clinton bristled and said: "That's just not right. That's just not right. I believe in this guy."
Babbitt, who also was considered for a court vacancy last year, described himself Monday as the "Susan Lucci of the Clinton administration."
Lucci is the frequently nominated daytime TV soap opera star who has never won an Emmy.
