American Notes SUPREME COURT

"A Supreme Court Justice is not supposed to be a White House 'team player,' " asserts an ad appearing in four major U.S. newspapers beginning last week. The full-page message cost People for the American Way, a liberal activist group, some $135,000. But that is small change in the all-out lobbying war over the Supreme Court nomination of Appeals Court Judge Robert Bork. Anticipating this fall's Senate confirmation vote, hundreds of liberal and conservative interest groups are expected to spend more than $20 million in multimedia ad campaigns and direct contact by mail and phone. Their main target: the 20-odd Senators who have yet to make up their minds.