A No to Nixon's Men

The fate of two men Nixon said he had considered pardoning was decided instead by the Supreme Court last week. There would be no review, said the court, of the convictions of John Ehrlichman and H.R. Haldeman--or of former Attorney General John Mitchell. All three had been convicted on Jan. 1, 1975 of a total of 14 felonies for their roles in the Watergate coverup, including obstruction of justice, conspiracy and perjury. They were sentenced to prison terms of from 30 months to eight years, with no possibility of parole for 2 1/2 years.

The Supreme Court's decision meant that it could be only a matter of weeks before Haldeman and Mitchell go to jail. Ehrlichman has been convicted besides of conspiracy and perjury in the illegal plumbers' operation, and began serving a 20-month to eight-year sentence on those charges last October, at Arizona's Federal Prison Camp at Safford. Last week his Washington attorney said his client would not make further appeals on the new decision. Lawyers for Mitchell and Haldeman said they would ask the Supreme Court for a rehearing; only two such petitions have been granted of the last 700 or so to come before the court.

Big Debts. If the request for a rehearing comes to naught, Mitchell will be the first U.S. Attorney General ever to serve a prison term. A friend of his told TIME that Mitchell had gone on hoping for a presidential pardon until last November, when Gerald Ford lost to Jimmy Carter. Mitchell has some investment income but is no longer allowed to practice law (he once earned $250,000 annually as a municipal bond lawyer), and friends say he is burdened by enormous debts.

Haldeman, who lives quietly in Los Angeles, and has been seen lunching at Orange County's plush Balboa Yacht Club, also has huge legal bills. After the court's action last week, he called a press conference on his front lawn and said: "For the past three weeks I have been watching the Nixon-Frost interviews. I've avoided comment because I had the hope they would clear up many of the questions that remained. Unfortunately, they did not. I feel now that I have to challenge President Nixon's explanation of the cover-up and that it's time to deal with many things that have been left unsaid." Haldeman said he would publish a "gloves off," "no holds barred" book on Watergate this fall.

Friends say Haldeman has been deeply concerned about Nixon's "dumping on him"; yet as the White House tapes revealed, he was closest of all to Nixon. At week's end his publisher, Quadrangle/The New York Times Book Co., announced that Haldeman "will tell who ordered the Watergate burglary" and will disclose the contents of the famous 18 1/2-minute gap in the White House tapes.

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