(Alberto) GONZALES

WASHINGTON - From the day he set foot in the White House as President Bush's chief counsel, Texan Alberto Gonzales has consistently been touted as a prospect for an even higher calling: the first Hispanic nominee to the U.S. Supreme Court.

But as speculation mounts about an imminent Supreme Court vacancy, the president's lawyer is engulfed in criticism from across the political spectrum, threatening his potential nomination before Bush even has a chance to make it.

Conservative purists are attacking his stance on affirmative action and abortion decisions rendered as a Texas Supreme Court justice. Liberals are challenging his role in White House decisions they say threatened civil liberties. And even some Hispanic groups are hedging on a potential endorsement until they further scrutinize his record.

The drumbeat of criticism comes amid growing talk that at least one and as many as three elderly justices could announce their retirements after the high court recesses Thursday.

Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist, 78, Sandra Day O'Connor, 73, and John Paul Stevens, 83, are considered as possible retirees from the court. All three have kept quiet about their intentions and some court-watchers caution that talk of high court departures is premature.

As White House counsel, Gonzales, 47, is in charge of screening all presidential judicial nominees, a position that could presumably give him a say in his own nomination to the Supreme Court. But he has consistently brushed aside any talk of the nomination, keeping the focus on his job as the president's top legal adviser.

Nevertheless, insiders and observers have considered Gonzales to be on the Republican president's short list of Supreme Court choices since the outset of the Bush White House in January 2001. He has been at his boss's side since Bush was governor of Texas and embodies a rise-from-poverty success story that Bush has frequently cited as an example of American achievement.

The son of migrant farm workers, Gonzales grew up in a two-bedroom house in Houston and won an appointment to the Air Force Academy before turning his sights on law. With a law degree from Harvard, he joined the Vinson & Elkins law firm in Houston, became a top adviser for Gov. Bush and later served on the Texas Supreme Court.

Supporters inside and outside Bush's circle call Gonzales an ideal candidate to become the nation's first Hispanic nominee, describing him as a pragmatic conservative with formidable legal experience. "I think he's a great man and would make a wonderful justice," said Reggie Bashur of Austin, a lobbyist who worked closely with Gonzales during their days in the Texas governor's office.

But the possibility of a Supreme Court vacancy has ignited a pre-emptive campaign against Gonzales' nomination, including attacks from the staunchly conservative wing of Bush's own party.

Part of the conservative backlash stems from the Supreme Court's 5-4 decision this week upholding affirmative action on college campuses, a ruling vehemently criticized by conservatives who oppose the use of race as a factor in employment or school enrollment.

As the White House weighed in on the case in advance of the decision, Gonzales argued against a hard-line position opposing affirmative action and, in the view of conservative critics, was at least partly responsible for the Supreme Court decision.

"I don't think conservatives are happy with the role Judge Gonzales played," said Linda Chavez, president of the Center for Equal Opportunity, who challenged the use of race-based standards at the University of Michigan.

Christian Right and anti-abortion groups have also become increasingly vocal against Gonzales, in part because of his decisions on the Texas Supreme Court in 2000.

During Gonzales' tenure, the court ruled on at least six cases under the Parental Notification Act that requires minors to notify their parents before seeking an abortion. The law enables girls to file "Jane Doe" appeals to waive parental consent if they prove that they are mature and "well-informed" enough to make the decision themselves or would be subject to parental abuse.

The court denied three Jane Doe appeals and sent two back to the lower courts. The sixth, involving a 17-year-old, was initially sent back to a lower court but was approved on a second appeal.

In a concurring opinion, Gonzales wrote that the wording of the law left him no choice but to approve the request: "While the ramifications of such a law and the results of the court's decision here may be personally troubling to me as a parent, it is my obligation as a judge to impartially apply the laws of this state without imposing my moral view on the decisions of the legislature," he wrote.

But Janet Folger, president of Faith2Action, an anti-abortion group, suggested that Gonzales' vote on the case was tantamount to sanctioning abortion. She also hinted that Gonzales may come under criticism today when the anti-abortion group conducts a Washington press conference with a coalition of other conservative organizations.

"Any judge that would rule against parental notification, the American people are going to have enormous concern against that particular judge," she said.

Other conservatives are also angry at Gonzales for what has been interpreted as critical remarks against Priscilla Owen, his colleague on the Supreme Court who voted against the exemption on the parental notification case. Without naming names, Gonzales suggested that dissenters Owen and Nathan Hecht were engaging in "judicial activism."

Owen's remarks were later recycled by Senate Democrats in an attempt to derail her nomination after Bush nominated the Texas jurist to a three-state appeals court. Gonzales, as the White House counsel, argued on behalf of the nomination although he had reportedly favored another nominee. Owen's nomination is still awaiting Senate approval.

Tom Minnery, vice president of Focus on the Family, an evangelical organization based in Colorado Springs, Colo., accused Gonzales of supplying "one of the clubs" Democrats used against Owen during the nomination fight.

"He's absolutely unacceptable to us for the Supreme Court," Minnery said.

From the other end of the spectrum, the People for the American Way plans to take an intense look at Gonzales' behind-the-scenes role as the president's counsel, says president Ralph Neas. The organization, which is already organizing opposition to whomever Bush nominates, is particularly concerned about Gonzales' role in drafting executive orders limiting public access to presidential records and creating military tribunals to try non-U.S. citizens in terrorism cases.

Craig McDonald of Texans for Public Justice, a legal watchdog group, said Gonzales, like other members of the Texas Supreme Court, ruled heavily in favor of business and accepted campaign donations from companies that had cases before the court.

"He was a good Republican, good pro-corporate judge, and I use the term loosely," McDonald said. "He was pretty good to corporate interests at the expense of consumer interests."

Gonzales has said that he steadfastly made his decisions based strictly on the law, and his defenders describe him as a skilled and tireless jurist who would not attempt to inject political opinions into his interpretations. Bashur says he is unquestionably a conservative.

Although Hispanic groups have pushed for years for a Hispanic nominee to the nation's highest court, not every organization representing them is prepared to automatically embrace Gonzales' nomination.

"We would certainly welcome that, but just being a Latino isn't enough," said Vibiana Andrade, vice president of public policy for the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund. The organization, she said, would take a "very careful" look at Gonzales' record before deciding on an endorsement.